On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board. It was the worst single accident in Lake Superior’s history.
The ship weighed more than 13,000 tons and was 730 feet long. It was launched in 1958 as the biggest carrier in the Great Lakes and became the first ship to carry more than a million tons of iron ore through the Soo Locks.
On November 9, the Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, with 26,000 tons of ore heading for Detroit, Michigan. The following afternoon, Ernest McSorely, the captain of the Fitzgerald and a 44-year veteran, contacted the Avafor, another ship traveling on Lake Superior and reported that his ship had encountered “one of the worst seas he had ever been in.” The Fitzgerald had lost its radar equipment and was listing badly to one side.
A couple of hours later, another ship made contact and was told that the Fitzgerald was holding its own. However, minutes afterward, the Fitzgerald disappeared from radar screens. A subsequent investigation showed that the sinking of the Fitzgerald occurred very suddenly; no distress signal was sent and the condition of the lifeboats suggested that little or no attempt was made to abandon the ship.
One possible reason for the wreck is that the Fitzgerald was carrying too much cargo. This made the ship sit low in the water and made it more vulnerable to being overwhelmed by a sudden large wave. The official report also cited the possibility that the hatches to the cargo area may have been faulty, leading to a sudden shift of the cargo that capsized the boat.
The Fitzgerald was eventually found 530 feet below the surface, 17 miles from Whitefish Bay, at the northeastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The ship had broken into two parts that were found approximately 150 feet apart. As there were no survivors among the 29 crewmembers, there will likely never be a definitive explanation of the Fitzgerald‘s sinking.
The Fitzgerald‘s sinking was the worst wreck in the Great Lakes since November 29, 1966, when 28 people died in the sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell in Lake Huron.
The disaster was immortalized in song the following year in Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
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Go to 2:40:
Well, we wear Mylar suits
The sun’s gone supernova
And we’ve colonized Mars
And it’s ten thousand years in the future
And the song goes on another hour
I remember the song from my younger days but it was twenty years later before I found out that it was about a true story. Sad but awesome story and song.
A D.J. or someone else announced that it was based on truth, because in our high school we all knew that it was true as soon as it got airplay. It’s a very good song, but it was hard to listen to because of the subject matter.
It’s hard to listen to because it goes on and on.
It’s no sadder than:
Or:
There goes my son:
It was hard to listen to only because it was an actual incident. Manipulated sadness is not the same thing.
She was named after the CEO of Northwestern Mutual Life, who owned the ship.
Maybe they sank it for $, like the Titanic? Just askin’ . . .
Wouldn’t be the first time.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqjQxs9l5fg
The Big Fitz sank because it was using inaccurate Coast Guard navigation charts and struck bottom at 6 Fathom Shoal. That is why the railing was down after that time. The Fitz was hogging because its back was broken. The result was the Fitz breaking in two off of Whitefish.
The only communication the Big Fitz has was with the captain of the Arthur M. Anderson, who was following several miles away. The Coast Guard generator and navigation aids at Whitefish were down that night because of the hurricane-grade storm.
Go back to your silly space aliens, Bermuda Triangle, and other conspiracies. You will feel better. Stay away from the families of the victims. They don’t need your disrespect.
In the days when deejays actually selected the songs they wanted to play, this song was usually treated with respect, in my recollections, being an avid radio listener since 1975.
Many deejays back then were “sensitive” enough to the recentness of the tragedy of the sinking of The Fitz, they would invariably leave a short moment of silence after the very last note of Gordon Lightfoot’s tribute. And, very rarely did they speak or play another song afterwards. A station promo was the usual follow-up, into a commercial stop-set. It was one of those unwritten radio rules that has since been forgotten.
Walk it off, sissy.
On the Great Lakes, boats are boats, not ships, no matter the size and method of propulsion, and are never “she.” Ships are those “salties” that come up the Seaway and require a lake pilot to go anywhere because ocean captains are not qualified to deal with the instantly changing conditions and tight clearances. A salty is easily identified from a distance. Just look for its cluttered profile. A lake boat always has a clean profile. The Big Fitz was always very clean and sharp.
The best pilots, back in the day, always brought fresh doughnuts and a “hot-off-the-press”, unread newspaper. A fresh, crisp, unread newspaper, fresh shipboard coffee, and a non-stale donut! Now, that’s living in style. Plus, it keeps the bridge crew happy while the big boys do the driving, aka, calling the shots.
Great song and Great tribute to the crew and their families.
Yeah, what a saint. Surely, this heroic pop star gave the proceeds to the survivors.
Saving the world, one pop tune at a time:
If you study the map with the boat’s course it’s clear the Canadians did it.
It was God’s retribution for buggery on the ‘igh seas.
(Video silenced in this demure age of tranny bikini guys as being too racy.)
P.S.: Fuck all you sensitive cunts downvoting the fun. Polish my knob, crybabies.