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WRECK OF EDMUND FITZGERALD: Remembering a maritime disaster
grandforksherald.com ^ | 10/09/2010 | John Myers

Posted on 11/09/2010 10:33:44 PM PST by prisoner6

WRECK OF EDMUND FITZGERALD: Remembering a maritime disaster

After 35 years, wreck of the Fitz still intrigues Maybe it’s because no one knows for sure exactly what happened. Maybe it’s because so many lives were lost in an instant. Or maybe it’s because of the song. It was 35 years ago tonight when the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. A generation has passed. Memories fade. But interest in the “Fitz” is still keen.

DULUTH — Maybe it’s because no one knows for sure exactly what happened. Maybe it’s because so many lives were lost in an instant. Or maybe it’s because of the song.

It was 35 years ago tonight when the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. A generation has passed. Memories fade. But interest in the “Fitz” is still keen.

“It’s not our biggest exhibit, but it’s the one we absolutely have to keep up,” said Thom Holden, director of the Lake Superior Maritime Museum in Duluth’s Canal Park. “We can’t touch the Fitz exhibit without people getting upset about it. We still get a lot of questions about it.”

But most of the people asking the questions are older now.

“When I first got here in 1977, it was the young school children who knew the most, who were most interested, because it was recent history for them. … Now, even the parents of the children who come through weren’t born when it happened,” Holden said. “For the kids now, it’s like the Titanic. It’s ancient history. But it’s still one of our most asked-about ships or events.”

Holden said the haunting 1976 Gordon Lightfoot ballad about the wreck is a big part of the intrigue.

(Excerpt) Read more at grandforksherald.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: greatlakes; shipwreck; superior
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The tragedy lingers. For some of us, the announcement on the radio or evening news was one of those moments when time stands still and we never forget where we were.

First reports were in the middle of the night via shortwave and maritime radio. Anyone familiar with The Great Lakes immediately feared the worst and did the only thing we could do.

We prayed.

Today, we remember and prayers continue not just for the 29 families, but for all the maritimers who risk their lives on the seas.

11/10 - A number of memorials around the Great Lakes today and later this week will remember the Edmund Fitzgerald, lost with all hands 35 years ago with all hands in a violent Lake Superior gale.

In Detroit, the annual Lost Mariners Remembrance will be held from 6-8 p.m. tonight at Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle. This year's remembrance will focus on the Lady Elgin, which sunk after being rammed by a schooner on Lake Michigan in the early morning hours of Sept. 8, 1860. It was the worst maritime tragedy on the open waters of the Great Lakes. Event highlights will include a lantern vigil at the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald anchor, ballads performed by Lee Murdock, a color guard escort of a memorial wreath to the Detroit River for receipt by a flotilla of Great Lakes vessels with 19 international military, maritime, and community agencies participating, and a special program with author Valerie van Heest. For more information visit www.detroithistorical.org. In addition, the event will be made available as a live webcast for those unable to attend in person Click here to view.

In River Rouge, Mich., near where the Fitzgerald was launched in 1959, a ceremony is set for 6-8 p.m. tonight near the Mariners Memorial Lighthouse at Belanger Park. Several speakers will give their memories of the ship, including people who helped construct it and relatives of some of the deceased crewmen. Earlier in the day, an Edmund Fitzgerald open house will be held from 3- 5 p.m. at the River Rouge Historical Museum. For more information on either event contact Dolores Swekel at 313-842-7822.

At Whitefish Point, near where the Fitzgerald went down, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum will offer its annual memorial service beginning at 7 p.m. tonight in the Shipwreck Museum building. Public seating will begin no earlier than 6:30 pm on a first-come, first-served basis. This year's Fitzgerald service will be conducted by the Rev. Richard Ingalls, Jr., rector of the Mariner's Church in Detroit. As described in Gordon Lightfoot's song, it was the Rev. Ingalls fathers who rang the bell "29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald." The public is invited to attend the service, which includes music, reflections, and a Call to the Last Watch Ceremony during which the bell is tolled for each crew member, plus a 30th ring to remember all mariners lost on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum will be open on Wednesday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The Shipwreck Coast Museum Store will be open that day from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Standard museum admission rates apply; admission to the Fitzgerald service is free. For more information, call the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at 888-492-3747.

Cadets from the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City will honor the memory of cadet David Weiss, lost on Fitzgerald, in ceremonies Wednesday at noon in the courtyard of the academy. The memorial will also pay tribute to all mariners lost on the Great Lakes or ocean. As they have for a number of years, some academy cadets will leave after the ceremony and drive to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point to again honor their lost comrade.

In Duluth/Superior, annual Gales of November activities begin on Friday at Grandmas Sports Garden with a joint luncheon with the Duluth-Superior Propeller Club. The keynote speaker, Pat Labadie, former Museum Director of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, will present "Shedding New Light on Maritime History." Various area tour options follow lunch and the day concludes with an reception, sponsored by Lake Superior Magazine, at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Canal Park. Events on Saturday, Nov. 13, all held at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, begin at 8:30 a.m. The day is filled with maritime-related educational breakout presentations, a mini trade show, silent auction, and an opportunity to enter a raffle with a chance to win a trip on a Great Lakes freighter. The raffle drawing will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Gales of November closing on Saturday. Tickets to Gales of November are required. Immediate details and registration information can be found at www.lsmma.com

In Rogers City, Mich., the Rogers City Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum will honor fallen sailors throughout November at bell tolling memorials. Members of the community and families of the deceased will gather to remember the shipwrecks of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Carl D. Bradley and Daniel J. Morrell. The bell tolling service for each shipwreck will take place at 2 p.m. on the closest Saturday to the date of the actual wreck. The tolling for the Edmund Fitzgerald will be Nov. 13, Nov. 20 for the Carl D. Bradley and Nov. 27 for the Daniel J. Morrell.

Finally, in the Port Huron area, the Friends of the St. Clair County Library will present "The Edmund Fitzgerald Investigations," a documentary on the Fitzgerald, on Nov. 19 at the St. Clair County Auditorium. Hosting will be former Great Lakes sailor Frank Frisk and Historian/Videographer Ric Mixter. The documentary is the only one of its kind to include video footage from all of the ship's expeditions including some never-seen-before footage from the CURV III mission, which was used to first explore the wreck site in 1976. The 60-minute piece will feature the history of the boat including footage of its building and its launch near Detroit. Interviews with former crew members and U.S. Coast Guard investigators will also be included. Admission is free, and registration is required for the event. To reserve a spot, contact (810) 984-2406

Here are a few links.

S.S. Fitzgerald Online

Shipwreck Museum

www.boatnerd.com

And of course...

Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

1 posted on 11/09/2010 10:33:46 PM PST by prisoner6
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To: prisoner6; Larry Lucido

I heard that it was rammed by the Cat Stevens. Or was that Gordon Lightfoot?


2 posted on 11/09/2010 10:40:00 PM PST by ReneeLynn (Socialism is SO yesterday. Fascism, it*s the new black. Mmm Mmm Mmm.)
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To: ReneeLynn
Gordon Lightfoot
3 posted on 11/09/2010 10:43:58 PM PST by dr_who
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To: prisoner6

Thanks so very much.

Raben


4 posted on 11/09/2010 10:44:24 PM PST by Rabin
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To: prisoner6

It was a miserable night, even as far south as Chicago.

The Great Lakes are called great for a reason. They are every bit as treacherous as any sea on Earth.


5 posted on 11/09/2010 10:52:11 PM PST by Barnacle (God help us.)
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To: prisoner6

6 posted on 11/09/2010 10:54:19 PM PST by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: prisoner6

Well, I had another song running through my mind.

Now I have THIS song instead.

It really is a sad and amazing story. The Fitzgerald was so massive and the idea that a few maneuvers may have saved her is hard for anyone to really grasp.

They found her on the floor of the lake but to this day I am pretty sure they don’t know precisely why she went down.

In my mind there will be bells in remembrance of the crew and their families.


7 posted on 11/09/2010 11:26:54 PM PST by freedumb2003 (The TOTUS-Reader: omnipotence at home, impotence abroad (Weekly Standard))
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To: dr_who

Jerry-”No Gordon Lightfoot was the singer, Edmund Fitzgerald was the name of the boat.”


8 posted on 11/10/2010 12:03:58 AM PST by ReneeLynn (Socialism is SO yesterday. Fascism, it*s the new black. Mmm Mmm Mmm.)
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To: prisoner6

Superior it’s said never gives up her dead when the winds
of November blow early.
Chilling Words to a sad,sad story. RIP To the Skipper and
her Crew.


9 posted on 11/10/2010 12:04:58 AM PST by Pompah
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To: ReneeLynn
Wanna clear out a party? Start playing that song!

Seriously, though, it was quite a tragedy.

Mrs. Prince of Space

10 posted on 11/10/2010 12:55:28 AM PST by Prince of Space
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To: Prince of Space
Wanna clear out a party? Start playing that song!

Wrong. That's what you keep a copy of MacArthur Park around for.

11 posted on 11/10/2010 3:19:26 AM PST by don-o ("At this point, Islam is just surging into a vacuum" - Mrs Don-o)
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To: prisoner6

I was 12 when the Fitz went down. I have done my annual “listening” to the song. Can’t do it more than once a year.


12 posted on 11/10/2010 3:25:02 AM PST by rickb308 (Nothing good ever came from someone yelling Allah Snackbar)
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To: prisoner6

A few intersting facts about the ship:

It was owned by the general account of the life insurer Northwestern Mutual.

It was named after the former CEO of the company.


13 posted on 11/10/2010 3:37:42 AM PST by LRoggy (Peter's Son's Business)
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To: rickb308
I caught an interview on the radio a while back with a crew member that worked on the ship until the trip before the fatal one. He believes there was a crack in the hull that was welded quickly after his last trip that may have caused it to break up.
14 posted on 11/10/2010 3:59:03 AM PST by Dem Guard (Obama's 57 States = The Organization of The Islamic Conference (OIC).)
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To: Barnacle
The Great Lakes are called great for a reason. They are every bit as treacherous as any sea on Earth.

True enough.
Most folks don't realize the size and depth of the Great Lakes, especially the very deep Lake Superior.
Lake Superior holds enough water to fill the other 4 Great Lakes with plenty to spare.
Fun fact of the day- The Great Lakes could cover the entire continental United States with over 9.5 feet of water.
15 posted on 11/10/2010 4:52:21 AM PST by MaryFromMichigan
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To: prisoner6
The documentary is the only one of its kind to include video footage from all of the ship's expeditions including some never-seen-before footage from the CURV III mission, which was used to first explore the wreck site in 1976.

I have seen this documentary aired before on either the History Channel or Discovery Channel (can't remember which)... it's fascinating.

16 posted on 11/10/2010 5:01:58 AM PST by TheRightGuy (I want MY BAILOUT ... a billion or two should do!)
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To: MaryFromMichigan

“The Great Lakes could cover the entire continental United States with over 9.5 feet of water. “

And it would all end up in my basement.


17 posted on 11/10/2010 5:10:21 AM PST by Carl LaFong (Experts say experts should be ignored.)
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To: xsmommy

just keeping you in the loop


18 posted on 11/10/2010 5:17:25 AM PST by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: Carl LaFong

Thanks for my first laugh of the day!
:)


19 posted on 11/10/2010 5:19:36 AM PST by MaryFromMichigan
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To: prisoner6

I’ve been trying to get the sleep out of my eyes this morning. Misting works pretty well. Thanks.

I grew up on Lake Erie. I was a teenager when this happened. I can’t read about it without tearing up. About 7 years ago I taught my daughter about it. I found a very nice screen saver on line with pictures and the song. I no longer have it and it was a little too depressing to use after teaching my daughter. It was a nice presentation and tribute though.

Prayers for the families.


20 posted on 11/10/2010 5:20:32 AM PST by pops88
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