Legend Lives On: Edmund Fitzgerald, 28 years ago today

[Faygo Kid]

And the church bell chimed, it rang 29 times. For those of us in the Great Lakes region, an event never to be forgotten. When the gales of November come early (thank you Gordon Lightfoot). Here's a great site, for those interested, about the pride of the lakes, the Edmund Fitzgerald (check the Events Timeline - chilling):
http://www.ssefo.com/

[hlthe2b]

1. definitely immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot....

That song always sends a chill up my spine. RIP, sailors.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. Awesome song

RIP sailors

[ewagner]

2. Special Memories

My wife and I pulled into Ashland Wisconsin on the night the Fitzgerald went down. Watched the news updates from Duluth as the sad truth began to set in. We permanently moved to Ashland two weeks later and found that there had been 13 Ashlanders on the Fitz.

We lived in Ashland for 10 years and never forgot the beauty, mystery and power of Lake Superior. When Gordon Lightfoot imortalized the song, it became very special to me.

Above my computer, I have a large (11 x 17) photo of Lake Superior taken by a friend from Ashland. Woods, rocky shoreline, and mist coming off the lake constantly remind me of the spiritual presence of the "big lake".

[Faygo Kid]

4. Great story. Thanks.

I have a framed poster in my bedroom of the Fitzgerald going down (little old now for Farrah Fawcett); bought it 15 years ago at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum near Whitefish Bay in the U.P. Here's their website; think you will enjoy it.
http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/

[ewagner]

6. Thanks for the post!

and link.

Read the story and it brings back some sad, sad memories.

[GAspnes]

5. thanks for the reminder

I've visited the Lake Superior Marine Museum in Duluth. Saw the Edmund Fitzgerald's bell. Walked the canal pier during a wild October afternoon with the waves coming from the east and hitting the pier, making it shudder.

The Great Lake is ... well, awesome.

[Faygo Kid]

7. For those without ties to the Lakes - wow.

The Great Lakes become part of you after a while, and there is nothing else like them in the world. As a born and bred Michigander, I have always had trouble moving away, and am back again. Something mystic, and surely unique, draws us to the Lakes. The Fitzgerald is part of that mystique, along with the hundreds and thousands of other shipwrecks through the years.

[ewagner]

8. Tell me about it!

I once went sailing on Lake Superior with a friend on his 36 foot sailboat. Weather turned crappy and we ended up in 6-8 foot swells.

I'm pretty sure that's when I discovered I wasn't a sailor.......

[Johnyawl]

9. Does any man know where the love of God goes...

...when the waves turn the minutes to hours.

A go-to-heaven moment for Gordan Lightfoot. That line never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

[ewagner]

10. Same here

...and....yes....there is something mystical about those lakes.

I keep going back.

My son was born in Ashland and last summer, he took his Floridian girlfriend up to Ashland. When they came back, my son took me aside and told me how he got chills running up the back of his neck just looking out over Lake Superior. His girlfriend was actually frightened by the lake itself.

I don't know what it is about that lake. For now, mystical will have to suffice.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. Not the Coast Guard's finest moment,

that's for damn sure.
That disaster is still painfully remembered by the true blue mother, and is studied at all levels in the CG.

RIP brave seamen, RIP

[hlthe2b]

12. I don't remember the 'rescue attempts."

What did the Coast Guard do/not do?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

13. The failure in communications led, according to the after

incident report, to no effective rescue attempt made.

This incident has been paramount in the way the Coast Guard now keeps track of commercial vessels, and reports of overdue vessels.

Furthermore, the Coast Guard had no assets to deploy closer than 300 miles away due mostly to mechanical down time.

In addition, the USCG noted various discrepancies on the last marine inspection of the EF, such as no aux power for the radars, no fathometer, and leaking hatches. The leaking hatches were due to be replaced in winter 1975.

Also, apparently (but some dispute this) the Coast Guard did not check the version of the charts carried on the EF, which may have shown the 6fathom shoal in the wrong place.

Most everyone agrees now that the EF bottomed out that afternoon somewhere, the damage reported by the captain as wave action was from the grounding, and her fate was already sealed then, just awaiting the right combination of boyancy loss and sea state to break her in two.

[Faygo Kid]

14. You know your stuff

A fascinating, if tragic, story, as you apparently agree. Ever been to Old Mariner's Church in downtown Detroit? That's where the church bell chimed; sure they had a service today.

[northzax]

15. the service is tommorow

11/11 when they ring the 29 bells...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

20. Yes, once. Another place like it is the Fisherman's Church

in Gloucester, MA where all the names of those who died in Atlantic Fisheries are inscribed.

For most people, these places are on the B list of tour sites, but to a retired Coastie, they are Must Sees.

[hlthe2b]

16. Wow.... you certainly DO know your stuff....

do local papers do follow up stories on the families? I always wonder how life goes for folks like that from (usually) small communities after a shared tragedy like that.

[fishnfla]

19. what about the list?

the cap' reports she is listing, could the load have shifted?

also one of the expeditions reports extensive damage to her bow, they never did identify that target the Anderson had on radar. Some say she hit it.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

23. Doubtful the load shifted, she was waaay overloaded

which was detailed in the accident report as another of the CG's shortcomings. apparently they did not monitor loading of non-hazardous materials as well as they should have in those days.

The mystery radar contact is a theory, yes... but why was no one ever reported missing?

radar in storms can show weird things.

I believe the list came from watertight integrity being compromised after the grounding.

[Blue-Jay]

17. Greeeeat. Now I got that damn song in my head.

<tries to rid self of earworm>

oo ee oo ah ahh
ting tang walla walla bing bang......

[Faygo Kid]

18. Should work at Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

They play (or used to play) the song repeatedly - and I do mean consecutively, throughout the day. Don't know how the staff could stand it; great song, but one that does stick in your head. (With a load of iron ore, 26,000 tons more . . .)

[Faygo Kid]

21. Here's the complete lyrics, for those who don't want to sleep

A song you just can't get out of your head. Yes, you are welcome.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called ’gitche gumee’
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of november turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the edmund fitzgerald weighed empty.
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of november came early.

The ship was the pride of the american side
Coming back from some mill in wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for cleveland
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang
Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T’was the witch of november come stealin’.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of november came slashin’.
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind.

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’.
Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya.
At seven p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it’s been good t’know ya
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
And the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald.

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searches all say they’d have made whitefish bay
If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
May have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake huron rolls, superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old michigan steams like a young man’s dreams;
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below lake ontario
Takes in what lake erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of november remembered.

In a musty old hall in detroit they prayed,
In the maritime sailors’ cathedral.
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the edmund fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call ’gitche gumee’.
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of november come early!

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Ah, I love that song

And always think of it around this time of year.

i remember studying it in grade school when it came out (grew up in WI, so of course it was relevant to us).

I'm not a Gordon Lightfoot fan by any means, but this song is wonderful songwriting and storytelling. Chilling in it's melody and harmony.

I remember hearing on a radio show once that the day the EF went down is a day that two other largish ships had down in similar circumstances in gitche gumee (years before, not the same year). Spooky.