Posted on 11/10/2004 1:52:38 PM PST by Rakkasan1
Russians and Germans refer to their ships as "he." 'Course, neither the Russians nor the Germans are reknowned as maritime powers.
Why is a ship called a She?
There is always a great deal of bustle around her
There is always a gang of men about
She has a waist and stays
It takes a lot of paint to keep her good looking
It is not the initial expense that breaks you - it is the upkeep!
She can be decked out
It takes an experienced man to handle her correctly
And, without a man at the helm, she is uncontrollable
She shows her topside but hides her bottom and
When coming into port, always heads for the buoys!
For those interested in the big ships of the great lakes heres a great webcam site of the Soo locks. It also has timelapse clips of the previous day at the locks.
https://webcam.crrel.usace.army.mil/soo/
When I was a kid up north with my dad I saw the EF and even have a picture of it around here somewhere.
And for the tinfoil hatters, the name of the ship that was following the EF the night she sank is the Arthur Anderson (of Enron fame)
Ancient mariners, such as the Greco-Romans, originally named their vessels after their gods -- female deities in particular -- as a sign of respect.
Later on, regular feminine names were used. Why? Women were viewed as the fount of nurturing, caring, and protection. This tradition evolved from the view that female ships would be more likely to make it safe to port, based on the popularly-accepted gender stereotype.
Thanks for posting the lyrics.
I remember the news vividly.
Can't imagine the strength of a storm that would sink a ship that size.
How terrifying for those on board.
Are you a memeber of the 187th INF Regiment?
A mans mistress.
Aye. So true. Definitely been there. Certainly done that.
that's not really what we call it in MN, but it makes
for a good song and it is Native American.
Same here! (Why else would I click on this thread?)
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in
great waters; these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which brings up the waves. These men mount up to heaven,they go down again to the depths and their soul is melted because of this trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, then come to their wit's end." Psalms 107:23-7
A line-by-line explanation of the song, "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald"
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call
Gitche Gumee"
Gitche Gumee translates roughly to "Shining Big-Sea-Water".
"The lake it is said never gives up her dead when the skies of november
turn gloomy"
To put it rather bluntly, the reason so few bodies are recovered from
off shore drownings
in Lake Superior is because the bodies first tend to sink (or are still
on board a vessel) but
because of the depth and frigid temperatures, the victims do not
naturally decompose.
Because of the lack of oxygen producing organisms, the bodies
remain on the bottom.
"With a load of iron ore 26,000 tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald
weighed empty"
When empty, the Fitzgerald weighed 8,686 net tons. The hold was
filled with 26,013 tons
of iron ore pellets called taconite, used mainly for automobile
production.
"That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed when the gales of
november came early"
Lake superior is on average 533 feet deep with an extreme depth of
1333 feet. It is 400
miles long which, when the wind blows across it's length, the waves
can build to greater
heights than found on less dense sea water, even in hurricane winds.
"The ship was the pride of the american side"
The Fitz was named after a Milwaukee banker and was launched into
the River Rouge
basin in June 1958. The owner was Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance Company of
Milwaukee and operated by Oglebay Norton.
"Comin' back from some mill in Wisconsin"
Superior, Wisconsin.
"As the big freighters go it was bigger than most"
The ship was 729 feet long, 75 feet wide, 39 feet deep. She was the
largest Great Lakes
steamer when launched in 1958, its size limited only by the largest
lock on Sault St, Marie.
Larger 1000 ft. boats were possible after the construction of the Poe
lock in 1969.
"With a crew and good captain well seasoned"
Captain Ernest R. McSorley, 62 years old, started sailing as a
deckhand on ocean vessels
when he was 18 years old. After transferring to freshwater freighters,
he made his way
through the ranks, eventually becoming the youngest to make captain.
"Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms when they left fully
loaded for Cleveland"
The Fitzgerald was "downbound" to unload its cargo in Detroit and
then continue on to
Cleveland to dock for the winter months.
"And later that night when the ship's bell rang could it be the north wind
they'd bin feelin'"
The Fitzgerald and the Anderson, a second freighter following close
behind, knew of the
gale warnings posted by the National Weather Service. They decided
to alter their course
and head towards the North shore of Superior for shelter against the
heart of the storm.
"The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound and a wave broke over the
railing"
The two boats (great lake sailors prefer "boat" to "ship"), followed
the Canadian shore to
the Caribou Island near "Six Fathom Shoals." The Anderson's captain
Jesse "Bernie"
Cooper, remarks how close the Fitz is to the shoals. Crossing the lake
in an attempt to
harbor the storm, the two make a course for Whitefish Bay Michigan.
In heavy seas, the
Fitzgerald sustains topside damage and radios the Anderson,
"Anderson, this is the
Fitzgerald. I have sustained some topside damage. I have a fence rail
laid down, two vents
lost or damaged, and a list. I'm checking down. Will you stay by me
till I get to Whitefish?"
"And every man knew as the captain did too, 'twas the witch of november
come stealin'"
The Fitzgerald has two radar sets but both use a common antenna.
The Fitzgerald calls on
the radio to the Arthur M. Anderson. "Anderson, this is the
Fitzgerald. I have lost both
radars. Can you provide me with radar plots till we reach Whitefish
Bay?"
"Charlie on that, Fitzgerald. We'll keep you advised of your
position."
"The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait when the gales of
november came slashin'"
Winds were 40 to 45 knots with waves to 20 ft.
"When afternoon came it was freezin' rain in the face of a hurricane west
wind"
The Sault St, Marie Locks report winds of seventy knots, gusts up to
eighty-two, about
ninety-five mph!
" When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin' "fellas it's too
rough to feed ya"
Ironically, the "old" cook was suffering from bleeding ulcers and was
unable to make the
last voyage. He is considered by some as "the sole survivor of the
Fitzgerald".
"At seven p.m. a main hatchway caved in he said "fellas it's been good to
know ya"
The Anderson reports being hit by two huge waves which go over the
pilot house, 35 feet
above the water line.
"The captain wired in he had water comin' in and the good ship and crew
was in peril"
Although McSorley told the Anderson he had developed a list and
was, infact, taking on
water, his main concern was that because of the loss of radar and
new reports of the
Whitefish Bay Lighthouse being broken down, the Fitzgerald was
sailing blind and due to
the list, the Fitzgerald was pulling to the left. They had to rely on the
Anderson for
guidance. When the Anderson radioed back later to ask how they
were doing with their
problem, McSorley replied "We are holding our own". That was the
last thing heard from
the Fitzgerald.
"And later that night when 'is lights went out of sight came the wreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald"
The tremendous waves on Lake Superior kept interfering with the
Anderson's radar,
showing the Fitzgerald some 10 miles ahead of her. As the Anderson
would dip with a
large wave, the Fitzgerald and all other boats in the area would
disappear, showing up
again as the Anderson would crest. At 7:10 the Anderson rose above
a wave and the
radar showed three blips, saltwater ships, the Navafors, the Avafors,
and the Benfri about
20 miles downbound. But no Fitzgerald. In the span of just a few
seconds, with no distress
call, the Fitzgerald was gone.
"Does anyone know where the love of god goes when the waves turn the
minutes to hours"
The Anderson contacted the Coast Guard in Sault St. Marie. "Soo
Control, this is the
Anderson. I am very concerned about the welfare of the steamer
Edmund Fitzgerald. He
was right in front of us, experiencing a little difficulty. He was taking
on a small amount of
water and none of the upbound ships have passed him. I can see no
lights as before and I
don't have him on radar. I just hope he didn't take a nose dive!"
The air temperature at the time was 49 degrees and the water
temperature was 40
degrees. Under these conditions a man would go into shock in 30
minutes.
"The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay if they'd put fifteen
more miles behind 'er"
A floating debris field was found the next morning and a 1000 yard
long oil slick about 13
miles from Whitefish Point. On later days, small objects were found
near the Canadian
shore, lifevests and rings, bottles, splintered wood, the largest object
being a crumpled raft
with the Fitzgerald's name.
"They might have split up or they might have capsized they may have broke
deep and took water"
The wreckage is in two major pieces. The bow section is 276 feet
long and upright. The
stern section is 253 feet long and upside down. The sections are 170
feet apart. About 200
feet of the midsection is disintegrated. Although there is no
conclusive evidence pointing to
what the cause was, the most popular therory is that because the Fitz
was taking on water,
the taconite cargo shifted toward the bow making it unbalanced,
heavy to the front. When
the Fitz plunged into the valley between two large waves, she
submarined to the bottom,
striking the lake's floor with enough force to break her in two.
"And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons
and the daughters"
There has been no attempt by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at
Whitefish Point,
which had made several exploratory expeditions down to the
werckage, to recover the
crew.
"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"
There is estimated to be more than 6000 commercial shipwrecks in
the Great Lakes, and
fewer than half of these have been located.
"In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
in the maritime sailors' cathedral
the church bell chimed 'til it rang 29 times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald"
The ship went down in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 with 29
men on board.
"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"
I was indeed.
,,, I'm a New Zealander, living in New Zealand but I was in Detroit at the time they placed the anchor from the wreck on Belle Isle. That was August, 1992. Still got the photo of me standing beside it.
I have backpacked Isle Royale several times. One season, I arrived a day or two after the park opened and packed into a shore site about seven miles from Windigo Bay. A week later when I returned for the boat back to Grand Portage, a Ranger told me that he had checked the shoreline sites a couple days before I arrived and found a body in the cove where I first camped. The body was estimated to be from the turn of the last century by reason of the cloting and coins it's pockets. The cold at depth prevents normal decay so that bodies don't gas-up and float. A couple days earlier for my trip and that would have been a hell of a surprise when filling a water bottle or a pot for dinner...
Any Freepers been to the Whitefish Point museum????
... in two pieces.
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