Posted on 08/07/2007 10:24:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
I saw a documentary, a year or two ago, on Nat’l Geographic or the History Channel, theorizing why she split in two. It was very interesting.
Mrs. RushLake, Amy RushLake, and I visited the Whitefish Point Lighthouse museum north of Paradise, Michigan last summer (again) and took the time to sit thru the taped presentation of the event featuring the survivors and the Lightfoot song in the background. It really grips you, hard.
Lightfoot had a lot of good tunes although Fitzgerald is certainly his most haunting. Canadian Railroad Trilogy is another great one about the opening up of the continent to the railway.....
There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run,
when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun.
Long before the white man and long before the wheel,
then the green dark forest was too silent to be real.
But time has no beginnings and history has no bounds
as to this verdant country they came from all around.
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forests tall,
built the mines the mills and the factories for the good of us all.
And when the young man’s fancy was turning to the spring,
the railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring.
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
and many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay.
For they looked in the future and what did they see,
they saw an iron road running from the sea to the sea.
Bringing the goods to a young growing land, all up through the seaports and into their hands.
Look away said they across this mighty land, from the Eastern Shore to the western strand.
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails, we gotta lay down the tracks and tear up the trails.
Open her heart let the lifeblood flow, gotta get on our way ‘cause we’re moving too slow.
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails,
we’re gonna lay down the tracks and tear up the trails.
Open her heart let the lifeblood flow, gotta get on our way ‘cause we’re moving too slow.
Get on our way ‘cause we’re moving too slow.
Behind the blue Rockies the sun is declining the stars, they come stealing at the close of the day.
Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping beyond the dark oceans in a place far away.
We are the Navvies who work upon the railway, swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun,
living on stew and drinking bad whiskey, bending our old backs ‘til the long days are done.
We are the Navvies who work upon the railway, swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun.
Laying down track and building the bridges, bending our backs till the railroad is done.
So over the mountains and over the plains into the muskeg and into the rain,
up the St. Lawrence all the way to Gaspe, swinging our hammers and drawing our pay.
Driving ‘em in and tying ‘em down away to the bunkhouse and into the town.
A dollar a day and a place for my head, a drink to the living and a toast to the dead.
Oh, the song of the future has been sung, all the battles have been won,
o’er the mountain tops we stand, all the world at our command,
we have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil.
There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run,
when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun.
Long before the white man and long before the wheel,
then the green dark forest was too silent to be real.
Then the green dark forest was too silent to be real.
And many are the dead men too silent to be real.
The article states that it was found near the Keweenaw Peninsula. That puts it somewhere east or west of the Portage Canal or anywhere between Marquette and Ontonogin excluding the Keweenaw.
That’s a great song! And a cool story too!
......The Freddie was the smallest boat.....
“Paddle to the Sea” was probably the smallest.
They are going back and reviewing reports of all sudden, unexplained ship sinking around the world...and there seems to be a high correlation to conditions that can generate these monster waves.
Hurricane-force gusts and waves coming from an unexpected angle likely contributed to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, researchers say.
“During the late afternoon and early evening of Nov. 10, 1975, conditions deteriorated rapidly with winds in excess of 69 mph, hurricane-force gusts [over 74 mph] and waves more than 25 feet high,” said Thomas Hultquist, science and operations officer at the NOAA National Weather Service forecast office in Negaunee, Mich.
Waves travelled west-to-east, the new analysis shows. This could have created a hazardous rolling motion. The ship sank about 15 miles from Whitefish Bay, with all 29 crew members perishing. - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Stop it - sorry, but that’s one of my (countless) peeves. You are an expert on what moves you, and obviously Gordon did. Artists shouldn’t be writing for the critics or the artsy-fartsy crowd; a song like that was meant to move the masses of non-experts. It means a lot.
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We have a friend who’s a Merchant Marine. He’s worked mostly in trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. But this winter he did a stint on the Great Lakes. His words, “Never again.” He said in his 35 years of experience, it was the hardest duty he’d ever done.
I'm glad you posted that picture, I was thinking along the lines of a class ring or fraternity ring that you would have on your finger.........I've never heard the term "life ring" before.
I grew up on Lake Charlevoix and used to watch the smaller coal freighters sail up the lake from Charlevoix and dump coal at the local tannery in Boyne City. They'd also make a first stop at the power plant in Advance. This was back in the 50's
It was a very long ship and it was fully loaded. Speculation was that the large swells/waves lifted both ends without any support in the middle and the ship buckled in the center. Once it buckled water came rushing in rapidly and it sank very quickly.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
Isn't two lines of great literature, then I don't care what is.
ELIANE: I love Edmund Fitzgerald’s voice.
We were just at the museum last week. Great place and worth the trip. Weirdly, I was just thinking a couple of days ago about finding a life ring from the Fitz.
I have great admiration for the men who brave the sea, whether it be our Navy or for commerce.
Awesome!
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