Posted on 11/10/2013 5:29:09 PM PST by LukeL
LAKE SUPERIOR- November 10th marks the day that the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior in 1975 with 29 souls on board.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox17online.com ...
We were up north when it went down, but that was long before cell phones and web, so we learned of it from the next morning’s front page at some diner. It seemed like the GL song came out the next day, but of course it took a while. I’ve never much liked the song, but the line that gets me every time is, “the church bell chimed, it rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
I prefer a different Canadian songwriter:
https://www.youtube.com/results?hl=en&q=stan+rogers+from+fresh+water&gbv=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=w1
I have many fond memories of summers spent on that big lake, Gitchegumi. Particularly a park called Grand Haven.
M Go Blue!
I visited the Duluth Maritime Museum a couple of summers ago. Needless to say, the EF features prominently.
Saw an ore carrier go through the lift bridge into the harbor, which was pretty cool.
:)
It’s sort of awful, isn’t it? The accident was so dreadful, but it’s such a great song. I feel like Gordon Lightfoot was completely inspired by God in writing that song. I know that is true of many songs, but I was just struck by it after I watched a documentary about the sinking.
Are you also a mariner?
Knew from southwest Ohio. First time in Cleveland he walked to end of the 9th street pier and just stood and stared.
When finally asked if he was okay he drawled “I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve never seen so much water before.”
You shouldn't feel Ancient Cripple.
I love learning about wrecks at sea, the Edmund Fitzgerald was a proud testament to hardworking Americans.
I was born 13 years after the Fitzgerald Sunk and Gordon Lightfoot song is literally my favorite Song of All Time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw
Gichigami truly does never give up her dead.
Not me. I’ve never been any further than the shoreline. (Actually I did take a trip to Wisconsin on the Badger as a very young kid.)
I grew up in northern Michigan, we lived right on lake Michigan. To this day, I still remember that storm and night, and reading about the Fitzgerald in the paper the next day, I still get chills thinking about it.
That boat looms large in the lore of the Shore. And "the witch of November" is real. If you've ever seen Superior when she's angry, you'll never forget it.
I have some photos of the Edmund Fitzgerald I took while I was visiting the Soo Locks back in the early 70’s. It was about two years later when she went down.
Rammed by the Cat Stevens.
I shot a few M-16 rounds at Camp Perry. We had a tornado come through one June night.
We have friends who built a really serious Summer house on the lake on Lake Ave. I don’t think I ever want to be there in Winter.
Would love to get my hands on fully auto! Yeah, I was there for a “microburst.” It was not fun.
Everything I read about the sinking indicates that it was a relatively quick event. It didn’t drag on for hours like the song indicates. If they knew that the ship was in real danger, it would have been only for a few minutes.
In 1976-77, they played that song every morning on the radio station where I went to college.
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