Posted on 11/17/2017 5:30:13 PM PST by nickcarraway
At 5pm the old cook came on deck saying ‘’Fellas it’s too rough to feed ya’’. At 7pm the main hatchway gave in he said “boys it’s been good to know ya’’.
“All of those facts were in the song!”
Except that the hatches were properly secured and were stoved in rather than the original lyric portrayed. There was NOT slipshod malpractice on part of the crew. This was all verified as deepwater technologies have greatly improved over the years which have clarified the images of the site. Lightfoot was contacted by a surviving family member and told of the validated findings to which Lightfoot took action and corrected his error and the folklore behind the wreck of the Fitzgerald.
Gordon Lightfoot has subsequently & personally apologized to the surviving family members and makes a point at his concerts to correct the audience in their belief in the original lyric.
Lightfoot has also changed the lyric to accurately reflect that it was not the fault of crew that the hatches gave way.
There are interviews on YouTube with Lightfoot and he explains. He’s also very proactive with the surviving family members and knows them personally as his song has had a great impact on their lives. He indicated in his interviews that the family members were very grateful that after improved Technologies allowed for the truth to be visually validated that Lightfoot personally in short order made those changes and contacted each surviving family member and personally reached out which they responded with great relief and thankfulness.
I lived in Green Bay and knew schoolmates whose fathers were crewmen on Great Lakes freighters. We were told that the worst storms and highest waves occurred on Lake Superior because it was the largest lake and on the map it looked like an angry wolf.
Amazed to learn how few lives were lost there.
I read theories about Fitz being taken down by the 3 sisters, three big waves one right after the other, then the bow slammed into the lake bed, and she cracked up. The captain reported they were listing, so, probably taking on water at the time too. That last wave just swamped the ship. You would think there would be a lot of damage to the bow because of all of that weight from carrying ore.
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Thank you for the link.
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