Obligatory link to the Gordon Lightfoot song about this disaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI
Rheostatics also do a great cover, here’s the version from their live album (studio recording is also good):
https://youtu.be/7J5hJQtMlE0
The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
11–20 of 61 posts
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#12Obligatory link to the Gordon Lightfoot song about this disaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI
One of my favorite songs. So many haunting lyrics. I've always been fascinated by "Superior, they said, never gives up her dead..." I've read it is in reference to the fact that because the lake is so cold, sunken bodies will not decompose and resurface. Of course, it could just be folklore.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#13Great Lakes have claimed so many ships, deadliest being the Lady Elgin with a loss of approximately 300 lives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Lady_Elgin).
The huge waves that brought down Edmund Fitzgerald are thought to be caused by the mythical Gales of November phenomenon on Lake Superior (https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/11/10/lake-superiors-gale...), which is due to cold Arctic air from north colliding with very warm air from the Gulf of Mexico (we had 70s in Chicago this week!).
From the MPRNews article:
"John Swenson, a professor in the department of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Minnesota Duluth who grew up on Lake Superior, has looked at records of the biggest storms over the past 30 years.
'I find that the average storm, so in terms of time of the year, actually falls on about Nov. 10. So long story short, we get a storm like this, you know, on average on Nov. 10.' "
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#14Great Lakes have claimed so many ships, deadliest being the Lady Elgin with a loss of approximately 300 lives ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Lady_Elgin ). The huge waves that brought down Edmund Fitzgerald are thought to be caused by the mythical Gales of November phenomenon on Lake Superior ( https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/11/10/lake-superiors-gale... ), which is due to cold Arctic air from north colliding w…
> Many of these ships were never found, so the exact number of shipwrecks in the Lakes is unknown; the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum approximates 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives lost, while historian and mariner Mark Thompson has estimated that the total number of wrecks is likely more than 25,000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_the_Grea...
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#15The most fascinating aspect of the incident to me is that the Edmund Fitzgerald was 728' long and sank in 535 feet of water. One video I saw analyzing the sinking showed that it was possible the ship's bow was forced down hit the bottom with 200' or so still above the surface.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#16Interestingly, the SS Arthur M. Anderson which was 10mi behind the Fitz when it went down, is still in use 70 years since launch and currently in Lake Huron.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/mmsi:3669720...
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#17The most fascinating aspect of the incident to me is that the Edmund Fitzgerald was 728' long and sank in 535 feet of water. One video I saw analyzing the sinking showed that it was possible the ship's bow was forced down hit the bottom with 200' or so still above the surface.
Can you imagine the horror of being on the bridge, thinking that the bow has just submerged into a wave, and only realizing it’s not going to come back up when you feel the ship slam into the lake floor?
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#18Obligatory link to the Gordon Lightfoot song about this disaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI
One of my favorite songs. So many haunting lyrics. I've always been fascinated by "Superior, they said, never gives up her dead..." I've read it is in reference to the fact that because the lake is so cold, sunken bodies will not decompose and resurface. Of course, it could just be folklore.
There’s a well known wreck (SS Kamloops) popular among divers that has a body in the engine room. Divers call it “Whitey” because it has saponified, and thus appears similar to a bar of soap.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#19Obligatory link to the Gordon Lightfoot song about this disaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI
To me, the old cook was the hero of that song.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#20Interestingly, the SS Arthur M. Anderson which was 10mi behind the Fitz when it went down, is still in use 70 years since launch and currently in Lake Huron. https://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/mmsi:3669720...
Lakers seem to have unusually long lives for ships because of the unique nature of the cargo carried, and the lack of salt water. As far as I can tell, many are retired because metal fatigue reasons, or an ship that cannot be upgraded to diesel propulsion.