35 years ago today: the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

[Steely Dan]

so today is the 35th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the last major great lakes ship wreck. it's amazing to think of how far safety technology has really advanced in the last couple generations, especially with regards to weather radars and weather forecasting. the great lakes were, for hundreds of years, some of the most treacherous bodies of water on the planet for navigation, and now we've had almost 2 entire generations pass without a single major ship wreck on the lakes.

that's great news for us, but faint comfort for the sailors aboard the edmund fitzgerald who lost their lives in that horrible november squall three and a half decades ago.

a moment of remembrance for them and the estimated 25,000 other sailors who lost their lives over the decades on the beautiful, but sometimes angry and violent, waters of our vast inland seas.


the Edmund Fitzgerald in her better years. she now lies 530 feet below the waves on the bottom of lake superior.


source: http://usdailyreview.com/the-wreck-o...nd-fitzgerald/

[MolsonExport]

Immortalized in the great song by Gordon Lightfoot.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 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 - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true 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 the 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 ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers 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 ruins 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, 'til it rang 29 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 say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.


© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.

• Video Link• Video Link

[Ex-Ithacan]

I have a feeling the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking might have been overshadowed a bit at the time because of a US Navy accident less than 2 weeks later. The aircraft carrier Kennedy hit the cruiser Belknap in the Med Sea near Sicily.
My brother was on the Belknap then and spent the night fighting fires. Seven sailors died on the Belknap, not near the loss of life on the Fitzgerald, but still as sad.

Here's some pics:







Considering there were nukes on board, it could have been much worse.

See this link for source and more info:
http://www.navysite.de/cg/cg26.htm


I didn't mean to hijack your thread Steely, sorry.

And I still feel a sadness for all souls lost at sea whenever I hear Gordon Lightfoot's song.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

I have a feeling the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking might have been overshadowed a bit at the time because of a US Navy accident less than 2 weeks later.

maybe the sinking of the edmund fitzgerald was overshadowed in parts elsewhere by that naval accident in the med., but in the great lakes region, the legend of the fitzgerald lives on as one of the most significant great lakes shipwrecks of all time, due in large part to lightfoot's haunting song and also because it was the last shipwreck of its kind on the lakes. before the fitzgerald went down, ships were lost all the friggin time on the lakes, and now nothing for over 3 and a half decades!

safety really has become the name of the game for great lakes commercial shipping and the zero-loss record since the fitzgerald speaks for itself. there's probably no better way to honor the sailors who went down with the fitzgerald than the continued vigilance required to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Agreed. One of my Navy shipmates use to work on Great Lakes freighters. He said some of the storms he passed through were as bad as any we hit on the North Atlantic. I'm glad the bad old days are behind us.

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Immortalized in the great song by Gordon Lightfoot.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 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 - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true 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 the 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 ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers 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 ruins 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, 'til it rang 29 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 say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.


© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.

• Video Link• Video Link

This wreck was certainly a tragedy(I remember it, yeah I am old), and I like most Gordon Lightfoot songs, but this song is one of my most hated songs of all time.

[fishrose]

Originally Posted by toddguy

This wreck was certainly a tragedy(I remember it, yeah I am old), and I like most Gordon Lightfoot songs, but this song is one of my most hated songs of all time.

Cool story, bro.

[Expat]

The wreck & the song haunt me. This happened when I was a child, so it lives large in my mind. Because of the childhood memory reinforced by the song, for me, it is up there with the Titanic.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

... and also because it was the last shipwreck of its kind on the lakes. before the fitzgerald went down, ships were lost all the friggin time on the lakes, and now nothing for over 3 and a half decades!

safety really has become the name of the game for great lakes commercial shipping and the zero-loss record since the fitzgerald speaks for itself. there's probably no better way to honor the sailors who went down with the fitzgerald than the continued vigilance required to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.

Dan.
I did not see this post last November but after it got bumped I had to comment.

While I agree with the general idea of your statement, the Great Lakes shipping safety record is not free of fatalities. The Fitzgerald was simply the last freighter to be lost with all hands.

My brother Paul served as an engineer on various freighters for 25 years eventually becoming a Chief Engineer. In September 1990, he was off duty on the MV Jupiter, docked in Bay City, Michigan, when the boat was totally destroyed by explosions and fire after another boat, the Buffalo, passed the dock moving at excessive speed. He jumped overboard and swam to shore as did most of the crew. One other crewman was not so lucky and drowned.

MV Jupiter: http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/6755


In 2002, two people were killed when the mailboat J W Westcot II sank in the Detroit River (the boat was re-floated and returned to service.
Two killed in sinking of mail boat J.W. Westcott II in Detroit River
A few years prior to this accident, I had actually taken a short trip on the mail boat as it delivered mail to a freighter as it moved up-bound on the Detroit River (it freaked me out a bit when I heard that it had sank).

There are certainly other fatal accidents on the Lakes since the sinking of the Fitzgerald but these are two that I remember. Safety has improved but there is still room for improvement.

[Steely Dan]

^ my point wasn't that no safety mishaps have occurred or that no one has died in any accidents aboard ships on the lakes, just that no commercial shipping freighter has gone to the bottom of the lakes in 35 years. that is a RIDICULOUSLY impressive feat when compared against the hundreds of commercial vessels that were routinely lost on the lakes prior to the fitzgerald's sinking.

[DecoJim]

I suppose it was terms such as "nothing" and "zero-loss" which marred an otherwise reasonably accurate statement. The loss of the Fitzgerald in a storm with 30 foot waves is just one way in which a ship can be destroyed. The loss of the MV Jupiter may have been less dramatic but it nevertheless was a total loss of the vessel. Better weather forecasting and enforcement of rules (such as speed limits for freighters on rivers) are both important methods for improving safety.

One factor to consider besides modern satellite based weather forecasting, improved communications, GPS navigation, and higher quality vessel construction, is that over the years the number of commercial vessels has decreased drastically. Trains and cars wiped out the passenger lines. Freighters have increased in size. When launched, the Fitzgerald was one of the largest freighters on the lakes being the maximum size that would fit in the Welland Canal. The Fitz' in fact set some cargo records (29,000 tons if I recall correctly). The dozen or so 1,000 foot freighters that exist today each have just over twice that capacity or about 60,000 tons. Back in the early part of the 20th century, about 10 of the largest freighters would be needed to carry the load of one modern 1,000 footer (more boats, more chances for collisions).

[The North One]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Immortalized in the great song by Gordon Lightfoot.

I HATED THAT SONG!!!!!!!!!!

we had to sing it every f**king day in elementary school! I wanted to stab my ears with pitchforks!

ooooh the horrible memories.....

[llamaorama]

Aren't bulk carriers more prone to sinking than most types of ships?

[george]

I love that song. I snowmobile in the UP in the Huron mountains, it's 1975 ft above sea level where you can look out over the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. It takes your breath away, just awesome. My Dad sailed freighters on the Great Lakes for 12 years. He witnessed the ships bending/ twisting sideways in heavy storms.

[vid]

It's "Gichigami". Gichigamiin if you want to refer to all of the lakes.

[subterranean]

My uncle Tony was on the USCGC Woodrush out of Duluth, the only cutter available at the time. It took 24 hours to get to that area of the lake. I need to talk to him and get his story down on tape.

[Steely Dan]

"Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early"

today is the 40th anniversary.

[bnk]

I remember the day it happened. 40 years Wow. This year I finally made it to whitefish point and the Maritime shipwreck museum there. It houses the original Bell of the Fitzgerald. It has a haunting ring to it.

http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/whitefishpoint

While the Edmund was the largest ship I read to day there are an incredible 10,000 shipwrecks and 30,000 dead souls in the Great Lakes.


Incredibly, in the past 300 years, about 30,000 people have died in 10,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, the Rev. William Fleming told the Detroit News.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weathe...mber/75453176/

Here's a good quick synapsis that takes only 11.5 mins from the history channel when they used to do real history.


• Video Link

[Centropolis]

the great lakes never cease to amaze me, especially during a storm. i've seen monster waves crashing against the breakwater from way over on the chicago skyway sending water several stories high. angry waves on the great lakes give me the willies.

[TallBob]

Nice Ceremony today and was on the Duluth Tribune website.