Something for the weekend. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. I have featured this song before, but the superb video above that melds the song with information about the sinking of SS Edmund Fitzgerald compelled me to post it again. Besides we can never have too much Gordon Lightfoot, one of the few musical brightspots in that vast musical wasteland of the last century known as the Seventies.
Hard to believe that on November 10 it will be 50 years since the Fitzgerald went down. I was a Freshman at the U of I when it sank, and I remember it as it were yesterday.
Launched in 1958, the vessel was then the largest ship on the Great Lakes, and she remains the largest ship to have sunk on the Lakes. For 17 years she transported taconite iron ore from Duluth to various ports on the Great Lakes.
The Fitzgerald left Superior on November 9, 1975 bound for a steel mill near Detroit. She and a companion ship SS Arthur Anderson were caught the next day on Lake Superior in a very severe storm with near hurricane gales. The Fitzgerald suddenly sank in 530 feet of water at 7:10 PM, 15 miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay. All 29 members of the crew perished, none of their bodies ever recovered.
The reason for the sinking remains unclear, although I lean towards the theory that some of the cargo hatches were not securely fastened, and that water leaking into the holds imperceptibly led to the sinking once the tipping point was reached.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was written by Gordon Lightfoot after he read a story about the sinking.
The day after the sinking the Mariner’s Church in Detroit rang its bell 29 times, a tradition kept until 2006 when the memorial was broadened to remember all lives lost on the Great Lakes.
The crew:
Ernest McSorley — Captain born in 1912.
John McCarthy — First mate born in 1913.
James Pratt — Second mate born in 1931.
Michael Armagost — Third mate born in 1938.
David Weiss — Cadet born in 1953.
Ransom Cundy — Watchman born in 1922.
Karl Peckol — Watchman born in 1955.
William Spengler — Watchman born in 1916.
John Simmons — Senior wheelman born in 1913.
Eugene O’Brien — Wheelman born in 1925.
John Poviach — Wheelman born in 1916.
Paul Riippa — Deckhand born in 1953.
Mark Thomas — Deckhand born in 1954.
Bruce Hudson — Deckhand born in 1953.
George Holl — Chief engineer born in 1915.
Edward Bindon — First assistant engineer born in 1928.
Thomas Edwards — Second assistant engineer born in 1925.
Russell Haskell — Second assistant engineer born in 1935.
Oliver Champeau — Third assistant engineer born in 1934.
Ralph Walton — Oiler born in 1917.
Blaine Wilhelm — Oiler born in 1923.
Thomas Bentsen — Oiler born in 1952.
Gordon MacLellan — Wiper born in 1945.
Robert Rafferty — Steward born in 1913.
Allen Kalmon — Second steward born in 1932.
Joseph Mazes — Special maintenance man born in 1916.
Thomas Borgeson — Maintenance man born in 1934.
Frederick Beetcher — Porter born in 1919.
Nolan Church — Porter born in 1920.
Bonus:
I remember it well. Gordon Lightfoot supposedly changed the lyrics(“…the main hatchway gave in) after some family members complained that it unfairly disparaged the crew. But it sure seems like a real possibility.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point off Lake Superior is well worth the visit.
Obviously we (my old sub) never sailed in the Great Lakes, but the North Atlantic was a bitterly cold and roiling, rolling hell on earth in November when we were on the surface. I thanked God when we finally dove beneath the surface to what was for us safety: the depths below. Sadly that was the least safe place for the men of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Thanks for posting the video. I hope those 29 men may now rest in peace. As Revelation 20:13 says, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” I also hope God is merciful on that great day.
“I also hope God is merciful on that great day.”
You and I both, LQC. In the meantime, I sure would love to sit down and listen to your submariner’s stories someday.
Anecdote: in high school, on our annual Career Day, just after reaching draft age, (1972), I was visiting the five military recruiter tables, picking up literature and asking questions. I asked the Navy guy if he had anything on the submarine service. He looked at my 6’5” frame, raised an eyebrow, and asked “What do you want to be, son? The periscope?” He then proceeded to explain that there was a height restriction for sub service. I forget what it was, but I was over it. A couple of minutes later, the USAF guy shattered my notion of becoming a pilot for the same reason. There is a “sitting height” limit, which of course I exceeded. He said I could be a crewman on a B-52 (not pilot or co-pilot), but it would be a tight fit. Then the Marine guy said “Hey, come on over here. No height limit for Infantry.” Heh. I went to college instead. And didn’t get drafted, TBTG. 😇
Ah, yes, I remember it well. Some personal connects: grew up 15 miles from Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of MI. Remember my dad saying the lake never gave up its dead. Interesting in the video to see the names and where the victims were from. Some from towns not far from my home (Ashland, Washburn, Iron River). I was also a freshman at college when it occurred, at the U of M. Heard it on the news in the common room.
As long as that song endures, the crew will be remembered. And that song is…immortal.
Robert Rafferty, listed as “steward”, was the cook mentioned in the song.
I was 12 when it happened. I remember it well. You have to stand next to one of those ore freighters to realize how big they are.