Location : Cleveland, OH
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy."
---- "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot
Thirty years ago today, the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald went down on Lake Superior with all 29 hands. While no one really knows what happened that night, this was a major event in annals of Great Lakes shipping. The story is one that some people probably have a hard time believing can occur on one of the Great Lakes. A short, little history:
The Edmund Fitzgerald leaves Superior, Wisconsin, with 26,116 tons of iron ore pellets bound for Detroit, Michigan.
Twenty minutes after setting sail, the National Weather Service issues a gale warning for the area that the Fitzgerald is sailing in.
At 1:00 AM, November 10, the winds are 52 knots and the waves are 10 feet high
Somewhere along the line, the Fitzgerald loses both of its radar.
The Arthur M. Anderson, 15 miles behind the Fitzgerald, uses its radar to help with the navigation of the Fitzgerald.
At 7:00 PM, the Anderson still has the Fitzgerald on its radar screens and makes radio contact with the Fitzgerald.
At 7:25 PM, the Fitzgerald disappears from the Anderson's radar screens.
In 1995, the bell was raised, restored, and placed in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. On every anniversary, it is rung 29 times for each of men lost on the Fitzgerald, and a 30th time for all who have lost their lives on the Great Lakes..
Taking on water, from damage earlier in the storm, it is suggested that the Fitzgerald plunged headfirst into a large wave which caused her to sink rapidly (that, and the weight of the iron ore). Too fast to get people on lifeboats or to radio for help.
Living on one of the Great Lakes, this was a major story, and one that I remember (dating myself, again). And, sitting around this summer with friends, I named "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as one of my personal Top 5 songs of all time.
"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."
---- "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot
Link: S.S Edmund Fitzgerald Online
Link: The Sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald - November 10, 1975 (nice analysis of the weather, with maps)
Link: The Sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald (complete with the Coast Guard report, audio of the Anderson radioing for help, and more links)
Link: Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
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