This told me nothing Gordan Lightfoot hadn’t already.
The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
51–60 of 61 posts
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
What a song — chills me every time. I can’t think of another historical and/or tragedy song that grips me as much as this one.
On a less historical, more personal tragedy level, "Cat's in the Cradle" has always hit me way harder than I would expect (both as a kid and an adult): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_in_the_Cradle ... gotta make a phone call now ... :-/
Well, if we're listing songs that hit ya in the feels, J Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers "Last Kiss" is right there
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#53I strongly believe that iron ore liquefaction ultimately proved the ship's demise. More about how this can happen here[1]. The facts all line up: - Tons of water likely getting into the cargo hold, wetting it down, especially if the crew didn't take care of shutting the cargo hold top. - Lots of rocking back and forth - They were carrying tons of iron ore - That stuff can absorb a ton of water, then when rocked, let…
Iron ore liquefaction is still a deadly problem for bulk carriers today and is suspected to be the cause of several recent sinkings.
https://gcaptain.com/cargo-liquefaction-continues-to-pose-de...
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#54If you haven't visited the Great Lakes, it can be hard to fathom how vast they are. They are really more like inland seas than lakes. At its deepest point, Lake Superior is about 1300ft deep, and edge-to-edge it measures about 350 miles across. If Lake Superior were drained, it could cover the entirety of North and South America with a foot of freshwater. The northwestern coast of Michigan and the Upper Peninsula tha…
The most wild thing about the great lakes for me, is that there's enormous islands in the middle which you can visit. Beaver Island has an entire year-round community. Farms, wineries, a small airport. It was featured on some survival show I caught late at night once. The Manitou islands used to be inhabited. They have found arrowheads on the island 7000 years old. They went through a logging colony, to a farming col…
> The most wild thing about the great lakes for me, is that there's enormous islands in the middle which you can visit.
On the largest island, in the largest lake in the world, there are multiple lakes. The largest of the lakes has multiple islands.
It is possible to go camping on the largest island in the largest lake in the largest island in the largest lake int he world.
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.0097822,-88.7714891,461m/dat...
Note that there is no lake on Ryan Island and the Moose Boulder doesn't exist. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/815546895/the-lonely-non-isla...
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Mackinac island is known for its rock skipping tournament. ... and the former Vice President had an eight car motorcade there. https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pence-car-free-mackinac...
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
What will put them out of service in fairly short order is salt exposure from carrying salt. Cargill has a big salt mine in Cleveland that extends several miles under Lake Erie[0]. I don't know where else they're mining it, but it gets shipped in lakers, and it's pretty rough on them for obvious reasons. I toured the Mather[1] some years back (take the below decks and engineering tour if they're offering it), and the…
The world's largest salt mine is underneath Lake Huron near Goderich, Ontario. I believe lakers pick up loads of salt there as well.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
The most wild thing about the great lakes for me, is that there's enormous islands in the middle which you can visit. Beaver Island has an entire year-round community. Farms, wineries, a small airport. It was featured on some survival show I caught late at night once. The Manitou islands used to be inhabited. They have found arrowheads on the island 7000 years old. They went through a logging colony, to a farming col…
> The most wild thing about the great lakes for me, is that there's enormous islands in the middle which you can visit. On the largest island, in the largest lake in the world, there are multiple lakes. The largest of the lakes has multiple islands. It is possible to go camping on the largest island in the largest lake in the largest island in the largest lake int he world. https://www.google.com/maps/@48.0097822,-88…
A fun read on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_islands_and_lakes
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obligatory link to the Paul Gross song, 32 Down on the Robert Mackenzie, which was composed after the show (Due South) was planning to do a story (featuring the song) about the Edmund Fitzgerald, but was convinced by the families of the deceased that it was better to craft something fictional: https://youtu.be/_d-t0959C3A
Oh wow... I haven't seen (or really even thought about) that show in ~25 years. That was one of my favorite shows in my early teens. I wonder how well it would hold up these days. I remember it being super campy (in a fun way).
Yeah, it's insanely campy, but other than that, I think it's really timeless.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#58Obligatory 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.
For anyone who is interested, there's a youtube channel ("Ask A mortician") which did an excellent video on the Fitzgerald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Lg9HygEJc
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#59I strongly believe that iron ore liquefaction ultimately proved the ship's demise. More about how this can happen here[1]. The facts all line up: - Tons of water likely getting into the cargo hold, wetting it down, especially if the crew didn't take care of shutting the cargo hold top. - Lots of rocking back and forth - They were carrying tons of iron ore - That stuff can absorb a ton of water, then when rocked, let…
You may be right about the liquefaction, but there is zero chance the crew forgot to shut the cargo holds properly. They knew they were heading into a storm and everyone on that ship understood their lives depended on securing all the hatches.
Re: The fateful, final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald
#60Gordon Lightfoot