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Monday marks 39 years since Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior
Clevland.com ^ | Nov. 10 2014 | Cliff Pinckard

Posted on 11/10/2014 6:15:41 AM PST by Cincinatus

It was Nov. 10, 1975, when the Edmund Fitzgerald disappeared in the waters of Lake Superior during a severe storm, taking 29 lives with it.

After nearly 40 years the story of the ship continues to intrigue, with some saying its legend is second only to the Titanic. Several books have been written about it and it famously was memorialized by Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

When the ship was christened on June 8, 1958, it was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes at 729 feet long. It was named after Edmund Fitzgerald, president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.

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


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: edmundfitzgerald; lake; lakesuperior; michigan; sink; ssedmundfitzgerald
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To: Fantasywriter

For reference USN 300kw surface search of that time frame could see the hardware on a utility pole at 40 miles under ideal conditions. Rain reflections, sea surface clutter, and sweeping the right sector while riding the wave crest come into play.


101 posted on 11/10/2014 9:25:34 AM PST by Ozark Tom
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About the Ship

102 posted on 11/10/2014 9:26:48 AM PST by deport
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To: Cincinatus

Great song.


103 posted on 11/10/2014 9:27:16 AM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Not saying Bethlehem Steel should have gone under, but they certainly didn’t handle the wreck of the Daniel Morrell the way they should have. Had its disappearance been reported sooner, odds are very good at least one other crewman could have been saved. Very sad story, & a miracle, under the circumstances, that even one managed to survive.


104 posted on 11/10/2014 9:28:19 AM PST by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Crazieman

LOL!

Never heard that one before.


105 posted on 11/10/2014 9:29:49 AM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Ozark Tom

Thanks. I know the Anderson had two types of radar. One worked at a distance, and the other was better for closer objects. For most of the afternoon/evening, they were about 10 miles behind the Fitz.


106 posted on 11/10/2014 9:30:02 AM PST by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Lazamataz

Ach, ja!


107 posted on 11/10/2014 9:31:16 AM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: Fantasywriter
I was only vaguely aware of the Morrell. She sank in the mid 60s...
108 posted on 11/10/2014 9:37:08 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

It’s a terrifying story. The middle of the ship bowed way up, and then literally cracked in half. The fore crew was in a life raft, waiting for the freezing water to lift them off the deck, when they saw lights steaming up alongside the bow. They thought it was another ship, and they could be rescued. Turned out it was the stern of the Morrell, briefly able to keep on sailing even though it was, at that time, only half a ship.

As I mentioned, only one crewman survived. He was supposed to have died about 32 hrs before he was rescued, given the temps. It really was a miracle.


109 posted on 11/10/2014 9:44:31 AM PST by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: PTBAA; Cincinatus; kjam22; jneesy; dayglored; Bogey780; 2banana; RedMDer; Alex Murphy; ...
Does any one know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Those lyrics are at the crux of it whether the friends you mourn were lost in the Pacific, the Atlantic, or one of the Great Lakes. That tune of Lightfoot's, even transcending the lyrics, dials in on the human emotional dynamic with PERFECT PITCH. People from seafaring families know; what makes the song powerful is that it touches those outside of seafaring with almost as much impact.

110 posted on 11/10/2014 10:00:32 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: 43north
May God have mercy on the souls of all mariners who have been lost in such storms.

Amen.

111 posted on 11/10/2014 10:02:40 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: US_MilitaryRules; Constitution Day; kjam22
Well I still love that song because I am a mariner.

I grew up in a commercial fishing family ... I hear ya. The song honors all of those we've lost; when we hear the song, no matter where or when, we think of them and ponder the REAL perspective of where we sit on God's earth.

112 posted on 11/10/2014 10:10:48 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: Cincinatus

The hull structue was inadequate to resist the bending moments imposed by the great swells. She literally broke in two

113 posted on 11/10/2014 10:14:21 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Larry Lucido

Yeah, it was rammed by the Cat Stevens


114 posted on 11/10/2014 10:15:23 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Wow. Good post.


115 posted on 11/10/2014 10:16:27 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Today the Patrick Fitzgerald would get rammed by the Gerald Fitzpatrick.


116 posted on 11/10/2014 10:18:54 AM PST by dfwgator (The "Fire Muschamp" tagline is back!)
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To: bert

Interesting picture! Is that based on sonar images of the bottom of Lake Superior or just some artist’s imagining?


117 posted on 11/10/2014 10:20:16 AM PST by Cincinatus (Omnia relinquit servare Rempublicam)
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To: mmichaels1970
The song brings back memories of some wicked storms we saw when sailing the Bering Sea. I remember looking straight up and it looked like the waves would touch each other at the tips overhead.

I'm glad you're home now, safe and sound. I know exactly that your loved ones do even now, 20 years later. I still whisper prayers of thanks to the Almighty for bringing my loved ones home safe, and pray he continues to do so, though now they are only sports fishermen.

118 posted on 11/10/2014 10:21:03 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: bert

The only problem with the ‘broke in two’ theory is that the entire middle of the ship was ground to powder/vaporized. This would only have happened if the bow struck the lake floor with tremendous force [which it would have done, if the bow had gone under & the screw drove her down] such that the weight/momentum of the stern, driven down by the sudden impact of the bow, destroyed the mid-ship.


119 posted on 11/10/2014 10:22:45 AM PST by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Cincinatus

I don’t know.

I assume it is rendered from photos. I chose to put up the present rather than the past

The last hours of the voyage are truly a harrowing tale


120 posted on 11/10/2014 10:23:00 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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