I remember hearing and loving this song by Gordon Lightfoot growing up. But the story behind the song, was somewhat hazy.
Today I was checking out Google Trends, still much to learn on how to best use that tool, found a hot topic for today, Edmund Fitzgerald. I took a few minutes this morning to do some research and share. In memory of the lost crew, 33 years ago today, peace and comfort to the families:
I always liked the song but was unaware of his basis in history, thanks Heidi.
I grew up in Michigan — we had a cottage at Lexington, MI — 20 miles north of Port Huron, MI. I have a picture of my brother and myself standing in front of the EDMUND FITZGERALD — you can see the name of the ship just over our head. My Mother new a crewmember and we were able to visit it the summer before it went down.
Growing up on the Great Lakes, I did a lot of reseaerch on sunken ships. The Great Lakes can be far more treacherous than most folks realize. If you’ve never seen the GL, you likely don’t understand how large they really are. You can’t see land on the other side in most places along the shoreline — they actually have a surf, just as the ocean does — and the biggest problem — the “bathtub effect” has a torsion effect on ships that often destroys them. We could tell ocean ships from Lake ships (once the St. Lawrence Seaway opened) because the Lake vessels had the long center deck which allowed for some flex in the deck of the vessel. The ocean ships looked like “wedding cakes” to us. My first husband was a Merchant Marine for a few years and often spoke of 60 foot waves on the GL.
Sorry to rattle on — it’s a subject that’s close to my heart.