I think we all need to chip in and buy this man a calendar. Or a colander. And a copy of this book.
Posted on 11/10/2018 4:51:52 AM PST by keat
SS Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking in Lake Superior
Executive Summary
About 1915 e.s.t., on November 10, 1975, the Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel SS Edmund Fitzgerald, fully loaded with a cargo of taconite pellets, sank in eastern Lake Superior in position 46° 59.9' N, 85° 06.6' W, approximately 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, Michigan. The ship was en route from Superior, Wisconsin, to Detroit, Michigan, and had been proceeding at reduced speed in a severe storm. All the vessel's 29 officers and crewmembers are missing and presumed dead. No distress call was heard by vessels or shore stations.
Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers. Before the hatch covers collapsed, flooding into the ballast tanks and tunnel through topside damage and flooding into the cargo hold through nonweathertight hatch covers caused a reduction of freeboard and a list. The hydrostatic and ydrodynamic forces imposed on the hatch covers by heavy boarding seas at this reduced freeboard and with the list caused the hatch covers to collapse.
Contributing to the accident was the lack of transverse watertight bulkheads in the cargo hold and the reduction of freeboard authorized by the 1969, 1971, and 1973 amendments to the Great Lakes Load Line Regulations.
You are right. The ‘Witch of November’ in the song, refers to the storm.
Anniversary
I’ll just go out on a limb and say maybe because today is March 10, the 40th anniversary of the sinking.
‘The pride of the American side...’ What a great song Gordon Lightfoot wrote. I heard that the youngest victim was 16.
My ancestors made their living on the big ships of the Great Lakes.they were sailors coal, ore men and captains of ferries. Interesting history in that part of the world.
Maybe it is because today is November 10......
I think we all need to chip in and buy this man a calendar. Or a colander. And a copy of this book.
The anniversary? or are you joking?
Lightfoot at his best. The virtual definition of a haunting tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A
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!
—Howie Carr made fun of politician Kevin Fitzgerald, who profited off a rich bag lady, with “The Wreck of the Kevin Fitzgerald”...
—Roy Firestone or somebody sang Star Spangled Banner lyrics to the tune for a bit: “Oh say can you see byyyyy the dawn’s early light...”
The gales sure came early this year it is 20 in the lower portion of the state. Hasn’t been this cold this early for a VERY long time AND we have snow.
-Michigander Madison
It appears his colander is working just fine.
It is also possible those long swells caused her to bottom out over 6fathom shoals causing leaking. She was lower in the water when the same big wave that hit Andersen hit her.
“Had to be one hell of a storm.”
They don’t call them the “Great Lakes” for nothing and Superior is by far the greatest of them all.
Waves of 27 feet and gale winds of 80mph have been recorded.
as frequently happens, here on Free Reepublic, we get to the bottom of various subjects by presenting the collective memories of various posters with similar but different remberances
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 crew 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 pm 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
They 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
Songwriters: GORDON LIGHTFOOT
© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
For non-commercial use only.
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours”
Fantastic lyrics!
So true. One of the very few songs that bring a tear to my eye every time I hear it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.