At 2:15PM on 9 November 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald – carrying a cargo of 26,116 long tons of taconite pellets – departed Superior, WI. She was bound for a steel mill at Zug Island, MI (near Detroit).
The following day, the ship encountered an early November gale on Lake Superior. She did not complete her voyage.
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was lost shortly after 7:10PM on 10 November 2015 1975, going down roughly 15 miles NNE of Whitefish Point, MI. All 29 on board perished.
Rest in peace, men.
I heard that song on the radio a few weeks back, and thought about the crew that was recently lost on the El Faro. I’ll take my chances on land.
This gives you some idea of what it looks like. Warning: Just this video will give you nightmares.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG5SouF96TQ
One day, I had to deliver something to the bridge, as I approached the hatch into the bridge, the overspray of a huge wave hit me in the face…..oh….I didn’t mention, I WAS ON AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER!
One of the great ballads of the 20th century.
The Great Lakes are as close to an inland sea as you can get on this continent. They are nothing to mess with. When I first moved to Chicago, I was amazed at the height the waves on Lake Michigan could reach on a stormy day.
I’ve seen lake trout mounted as game fishing trophies by a printing company owner I worked for. They were 5++ feet long from nose to end of tail, had fins the size of turkey platters and a mouth wide enough to swallow an adult human.
All the Lakes are deep enough to demand respect for them. If you don’t respect the Lakes, you’ll pay for it.
October and November are famous for 10-20 foot waves. Standing at Muskegon or Grand Haven or South Haven and watching waves breaking over a light house is awe-inspiring.
In fact, they are calling for 20 foot waves around Muskegon today.
Decades later they raised the bell of the great ship from the bottom. The daughter was present when the bell broke the surface of the water.
The bell swung straight to her, rang once, and went back over the water. If I remember right she said, “I miss you too dad.”
Thanks for the post Hondo. I’ve been intrigued by the story and song since I was a kid in upstate NY. I had the pleasure of seeing Gordon Lightfoot at a small venue in Las Vegas a few years back.
“THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD”
GORDON LIGHTFOOT
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
Twenty-six thousand 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 good captain
Well seasoned
Concluding some terms
With a couple of steel firms
When they left
Fully loaded for Cleveland
Then 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
When the wave
Broke over the railing
And every man knew,
As the captain did too
‘Twas 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 freezing 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 to 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 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 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
’til 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
Gordo (as our neighbours to the north call him)—-One of the great balladeers of the English language. All of his music is touching, listenable,—-wonderful.
I grew up in sight of Lake Erie, and was 11 years old when this happened. This song still gives me goose bumps. Good job Mr. Lightfoot!
I was thinking about this over the Summer when the wife and I took a long vacation pulling our little trailer. Our route took us past all 5 of the Great Lakes.
One thing that occurs to me is the power and influence of popular culture and popular music. There have been hundreds – maybe thousands? – of ships that sank in the Great Lakes, and yet, I, and most of the people of my generation, can only name one of them and it’s all because of that song.
There really isn’t much “popular music” anymore. The music industry has fractured and “specialized” and so has radio to the point where the “pop music” from one genre is likely to be completely unknown to those who listen to a different one. But back in the 60’s and 70’s, when radio stations played a fairly wide variety of music, one song could reach an entire generation of listeners.
I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing but it’s something I’ve noticed.
Used to do a lot of sailing, the worst windstorm I ever experienced was on Lake Michigan. Took all the sails down and still almost capsized. I can only imagine what Lake Michigan is like in a November storm.
That’s why I don’t do ocean, lakes. Flying to Europe it took anxiety and sleeping pills to get me there. Coming back, same thing.
Rolling to Europe this summer I’ll need a bottle of both and nothing will keep me from going. Papa’s kleine MUIS….