Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

[Rexedgar]

47 years ago,yesterday.

When I first heard this song in the late 1970s, I thought it was an event that happened way in the past. It was a while before I learned that it was recent history.
Interesting thread by the historian:

 

[Loulit01]

 

[NewfieMom]

I, also, knew the song for years. Recently I have been reading a series of books by William Kent Krueger that take place in the area of Lake Superior. (They are fiction.) One of them uses the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald as part of a fictionalized story. (I highly recommend Mr. Krueger's books, by the way, for people who like fiction.)

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

The church bell chimed
it rang twenty nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald....

 

[Loulit01]

I, also, knew the song for years. Recently I have been reading a series of books by William Kent Krueger that take place in the area of Lake Superior. (They are fiction.) One of them uses the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald as part of a fictionalized story. (I highly recommend Mr. Krueger's books, by the way, for people who like fiction.)

What's time frame, contemporary or historical?

 

[ALiberalModerate]

Lake Superior is so big that it can get as rough as an ocean. It's littered with shipwrecks.

 

[Rexedgar]

What's time frame, contemporary or historical?

The loss happened in 1975.

 

[NewfieMom]

What's time frame, contemporary or historical?

Contemporary. The setting is in the Minnesota countryside (woods) and the protagonist is a man who was once the sheriff of the small town where he lives. His maternal grandmother was Indian/Native American (from the tribe that white people call Chippewa) and a lot of the plots involve people from that group. Krueger is a good writer, not a hack. I mention this because you posted that you are particular about poetry. Sometimes I can read books that fly by, but I cannot dedicate myself to an author the way I did to Mr. Krueger unless I feel he writes well. (I am not saying he is Hemingway; he is writing a series, after all. He can construct sentences intelligently, however.)

 

[Loulit01]

Contemporary. The setting is in the Minnesota countryside (woods) and the protagonist is a man who was once the sheriff of the small town where he lives. His maternal grandmother was Indian/Native American (from the tribe that white people call Chippewa) and a lot of the plots involve people from that group. Krueger is a good writer, not a hack. I mention this because you posted that you are particular about poetry. Sometimes I can read books that fly by, but I cannot dedicate myself to an author the way I did to Mr. Krueger unless I feel he writes well. (I am not saying he is Hemingway; he is writing a series, after all. He can construct sentences intelligently, however.)

Okay, thanks. I'll check and see what my local library can do, or I'll go to Amazon

 

[Jkca1]

Gordon had a great voice.

 

[beefheart]

47 years ago,yesterday.

When I first heard this song in the late 1970s, I thought it was an event that happened way in the past. It was a while before I learned that it was recent history.
Interesting thread by the historian:

We have tix to see Gordon in Dec. Not sure if we will make it though.

 

[The flaming lib]

As a native Detroiter I would watch the Fitz up and down the Detroit river in my younger days.

 

[NewfieMom]

As a native Detroiter I would watch the Fitz up and down the Detroit river in my younger days.

That's very interesting (at least to me).

 

[FreeStorm84]

You know someone wants to post this so I'll do it.

 

[Lisa]

As a native Detroiter I would watch the Fitz up and down the Detroit river in my younger days.

In 2nd or 3rd grade field trip we took a tourist river cruise (Goodtime 2) in Cleveland. We passed the Edmund Fitzgerald unloading at the Huletts on the lake and then as we were going down the Cuyahoga we passed the Arthur Anderson heading back out to the lake. I didn't remember the names of either ships until about 30 years ago when I was putting a scrapbook together from piles of snapshots that I found in a drawer.

The song by Gordon Lightfoot is very spooky. I grew up in NE Ohio and my Dad worked downtown Cleveland for a long time, so he would often take up to Cleveland on the Weekends. I loved being out on the lake in a sailboat that a friend had. I can only imagine the fear of that night on Lake Superior being caught in a storm.

 

[The flaming lib]

That's very interesting (at least to me).

It’s very well entrenched in my memory’s of my youth. We loved watching these mammoth freighter on the river and lakes.

In 2nd or 3rd grade field trip we took a tourist river cruise (Goodtime 2) in Cleveland. We passed the Edmund Fitzgerald unloading at the Huletts on the lake and then as we were going down the Cuyahoga we passed the Arthur Anderson heading back out to the lake. I didn't remember the names of either ships until about 30 years ago when I was putting a scrapbook together from piles of snapshots that I found in a drawer.

The song by Gordon Lightfoot is very spooky. I grew up in NE Ohio and my Dad worked downtown Cleveland for a long time, so he would often take up to Cleveland on the Weekends. I loved being out on the lake in a sailboat that a friend had. I can only imagine the fear of that night on Lake Superior being caught in a storm.

I refer to the song by Lightfoot as haunting and an excellent farewell to those men who died that night. It’s always amazin to think a lake could be so big, so vast and violent as to sink such a massive ship. But then realize that Michigan has more shipwrecks than any other state, over 5,000

 

[Lisa]

It’s very well entrenched in my memory’s of my youth. We loved watching these mammoth freighter on the river and lakes.

I refer to the song by Lightfoot as haunting and an excellent farewell to those men who died that night. It’s always amazin to think a lake could be so big, so vast and violent as to sink such a massive ship. But then realize that Michigan has more shipwrecks than any other state, over 5,000

The great lakes are more accurately termed inland seas. The look like oceans from the shore but its fresh water. A 750' ship is nothing on the great lakes. Lake Superior is over 1000 feet deep in some places.

I live about an hour south of Cleveland and have spent a lot of time on Lake Erie on a friends sailboat. Its nothing to play with because it can go from calm to 3-4 meter waves in the span of minutes when the west winds start blowing.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Some nights my Dad would come home from work after I'd gone to bed and play that song on his stereo. Used to creep my 7 year old self out hearing about ice water mansions and lakes not giving up their dead, but I love it now.

 

[Antiwar]

SS Edmund Fitzgerald - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Look at the "Hypotheses on the cause of sinking" section.

 

[Bum]

The great lakes are more accurately termed inland seas. The look like oceans from the shore but its fresh water. A 750' ship is nothing on the great lakes. Lake Superior is over 1000 feet deep in some places.

I live about an hour south of Cleveland and have spent a lot of time on Lake Erie on a friends sailboat. Its nothing to play with because it can go from calm to 3-4 meter waves in the span of minutes when the west winds start blowing.

Deepest point in Lake Superior is 1,332 feet....over a quarter mile straight down.