The SS Edmund Fitzgerald

I bring this up because our vacation this year was to the wonderful shores of Lake Superior…

My family moved from Richmond, Virginia to Houghton Lake, Michigan in the fall of 1975. On November 10, 1975 the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior and it was big news in Michigan for a long while. In August the following year, Gordon Lightfoot released his iconic song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. As a young boy I would sit on the dock in the evening and wait for the song to play on my little transistor radio. I would imagine the voyage while listening. This haunting event still holds my interest.

“Lake Superior is the largest and northernmost of the Great Lakes of North America, and among freshwater lakes, it is the world’s largest by surface area and the third-largest by volume…It is shared by Ontario, Canada to the north, and states in the United States in other directions: Minnesota to the west, and Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the south.”

“Edmund Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, at 2:15 p.m. on the afternoon of November 9, 1975, under the command of Captain Ernest M. McSorley. She was en route to the steel mill on Zug Island, near Detroit, Michigan, with a cargo of 26,116 long tons of taconite ore pellets and soon reached her full speed of 16.3 miles per hour. Around 5 p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald joined a second freighter under the command of Captain Jesse B. “Bernie” Cooper, Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana, out of Two Harbors, Minnesota. The weather forecast was not unusual for November and the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted that a storm would pass just south of Lake Superior by 7 a.m. on November 10…The NWS altered its forecast at 7:00 p.m., issuing gale warnings for the whole of Lake Superior. Arthur M. Anderson and Edmund Fitzgerald altered course northward seeking shelter along the Ontario shore where they encountered a winter storm at 1:00 a.m. on November 10. Edmund Fitzgerald reported winds of 52 knots (60 mph) and waves 10 feet high…At 2:00 a.m. on November 10, the NWS upgraded its warnings from gale to storm, forecasting winds of 35–50 knots (40–58 mph)…Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Captain McSorley radioed Arthur M. Anderson to report that Edmund Fitzgerald was taking on water and had lost two vent covers and a fence railing. The vessel had also developed a list…By late in the afternoon of November 10, sustained winds of over 50 knots (58 mph) were recorded by ships and observation points across eastern Lake Superior. Arthur M. Anderson logged sustained winds as high as 58 knots (67 mph) at 4:52 p.m., while waves increased to as high as 25 feet by 6:00 p.m. Arthur M. Anderson was also struck by 70-to-75-knot (81 to 86 mph) gusts and rogue waves as high as 35 feet. At approximately 7:10 p.m., when Arthur M. Anderson notified Edmund Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing, McSorley reported, “We are holding our own.” That was the last anyone heard from her. No distress signal was received, and ten minutes later, Arthur M. Anderson lost the ability either to reach Edmund Fitzgerald by radio or to detect her on radar.”
SS Edmund Fitzgerald | Wikipedia

From The Archives, 1975: Edmund Fitzgerald Sinks In Lake Superior | NBC Nightly News

44 years after sinking, last communications from Edmund Fitzgerald still haunt | Grand Forks Herald
Fitzgerald: “I have a bad list, lost both radars. And am taking heavy seas over the deck. One of the worst seas I’ve ever been in.”
Full transcript.

S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online
“a site dedicated to informing others about the ship and the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

We Are Holding Our Own – The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald | Wisconsin Public Radio
“We Are Holding Our Own” tells the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the ore carrier that sunk in Lake Superior in 1975. Named for the last five words heard from the ship minutes before its disappearance, the documentary features exclusive audio recordings of ship-to-shore radio transmissions, expeditions to the site of the wreck, and the last interview ever given by the captain of the last ship in contact with the Fitzgerald. (2 hours 38 minutes, I downloaded the mp3)

The Lost Fitzgerald Search Tapes (YouTube)
“Rare radio chatter between the Arthur M. Anderson and the Coast Guard November 10th, 1975. The last time anyone ever heard from the Edmund Fitzgerald”
Through the eyes of Capt. Cooper: The night the Edmund Fitzgerald went down (YouTube)
“This is the last interview of Capt. Bernie Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson conducted by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society before he passed in 1993. The Anderson was 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald in the teeth of Lake Superior during that fateful night of November 10th, 1975 when all 29 men went down. Hear a first hand account of what it was like that night and Capt. Coopers theories on what may have happened to the Fitz.”

STREAM: Edmund Fitzgerald: Investigations | Detroit Public TV
“Edmund Fitzgerald: Investigations” was produced by Michigan native Ric Mixter, who is one of only a few people to have ever dived the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Lots of theories. Highly recommended.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Every video clip I have seen has substandard audio but here is the official clip:

I’ve listened to many covers of this song. Most I didn’t care for, except for this one:

Lyrics via (https://genius.com/Gordon-lightfoot-the-wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald-lyrics)

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 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
And 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
And a wave broke over the railing
And ev’ry 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 freezin’ rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’
“Fellas, it’s too rough t’feed ya”
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said
“Fellas, it’s bin good t’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 ‘is lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does any one 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 ‘er

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!”