The Wreck of The Edmund

Fitzgerald: 40 Years Ago

Gordon Lightfoot said this song is his most significant contribution to
music.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald Courtesy: NOAA

Bonnie King Salem-News.com-Nov-12-2015

(SALEM, Ore.) - 40 years ago, on November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund
Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. This two score anniversary commemorates
the ship, a 729 foot ore carrier, which went down in a November storm,
taking all 29 crew members to their graves.
"According to a legend of the Most of us (outside the area) know about the
Chippewa tribe, the lake they
tragedy because of one thing: the song.
once called Gitche Gumee
'never gives up her dead.'" The poignant song was written by Gordon Lightfoot
-Great Lakes: The Cruelest as a tribute to the ship, the sea and the men who
Month, 1975 Newsweek
lost their lives in this mysterious shipwreck.
Magazine

The fateful voyage began November 9, 1975 at 2:20 p.m.

The Edmund Fitzgerald's Captain Ernst McSorely was a seasoned sailor of
the Great Lakes with 44 years of experience.
Captain McSorley left Superior, Wisconsin with a load of 26,116 tons of

taconite pellets to be delivered to Zug Island, charting his course within ten
miles of another ship, the Anderson, so that they could navigate Lake
Superior together.
There was a storm brewing and heading northward towards the Great
Lakes. It appeared to be a "typical November storm".
As the storm increased in intensity that afternoon, Captain McSorley
reported that the Fitz "had a bad list, had lost both radars, and was taking
heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas he had ever been in."
The ship had lost two vent covers, some railing and was taking on water.
He asked for a radar fix because his radar had failed. Darkness set in and
snow squalls made the Fitz nearly invisible.
At 7:10 p.m. the Andersons Captain Cooper called Captain McSorley to
check the condition of the Fitz. Captain McSorley replied, We are holding
our own.
Just fifteen minutes later, as the Anderson emerged from a snow squall,
Cooper couldnt believe his eyes. The Edmund Fitzgerald had disappeared
from sight and sound.
The ship couldnt be seen visually or on radar, or contacted by radio.
Captain Cooper called the Coast Guard and reported the Fitz is gone.
Three days later a Navy helicopter and the Coast Guard found the
wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald approximately 17 miles from the
entrance to Whitefish Bay. No bodies were ever recovered.
Gordon Lightfoot
read the article in
Newsweek
Magazine two
weeks after the
ship sank, in the
issue of November
24, 1975, and was
inspired. That is
when he wrote
what has turned
out to be his most
famous song, and
one of the greatest

Object 1

story songs ever, The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald.

The song climbed to #2 on the Billboard pop charts in 1976 and remains
one the most heartwrenching ballads ever written, and a highlight of every
Lightfoot concert. Five years ago, he made a correction to a line in the
song.
As a result of recent findings that it was waves and not crew error that lead
to the wreck, Lightfoot changed At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in
to At seven PM, it grew dark, it was then (see lyrics below).
A Canadian documentary called Edmund Fitzgerald (WatchontheHistory
Channel) concludes there is little evidence that failure to secure the ship's
hatches caused the sinking and that it was a rogue wave instead.
Lightfoot said he always felt bad that the line might have implied that the
crew was at fault, and was very happy that the new evidence absolved
them.
"I can't use the hatch cover line anymore. And the whole verse was really
conjecture right from start to finish anyway. It's the only verse in the whole
song where I give myself complete poetic license, Lighfoot said in an
exclusive interview with QMI Agency.
In a 2010 article in the Toronto Sun, he said he has no plans to change the
copyrighted lyrics of the song and re-record it and that the lyrics change
will be incorporated only into live performances.
Mariners Memorial, 1988 Great Lakes captains, family members, and
friends pay their respects at a memorial service for the Edmund Fitzgerald
crew at Detroits Mariners Church. Photo: Dean Koepfler, The Detroit News

If you missed the commemoration, come back in 2016.For the 40th Anniversary, there
was a memorial service held at Mariners' Church as part of the 11am
service on November 8th. This isnt a singular event.
Every year, on November
10th at 7:10 p.m., during
the museum's annual
memorial service, the bell is
tolled 29 times for the
Fitzgerald's crew, plus a
30th time to honor the
estimated 30,000 victims on
more than 6,000 ships that
have gone down on the
Great Lakes since the 1600s.
Wreck Of The Edmund
Fitzgerald
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. it grew dark, it was then 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!" (*revised lyric)
Music and lyrics 1976 by Gordon Lightfoot
Sources: Toronto Sun; Gordon Lightfoot.com; ecorse along the detroit
river; detroitnews.com; & others.
________________________________________
Bonnie King, Publisher of Salem-News.com
Photographer and video producer, writer, and editor, Bonnie
King has served in a number of positions in the broadcast industry
including TV Production Manager at KVWB (Las Vegas WB) and
Producer/Director for the TV series "Hot Wheels in Las Vegas", posts as TV
Promotion Director for KYMA (NBC), and KFBT (Ind.), Asst. Marketing
Director (SUPERSHOPPER MAGAZINE), Director/Co-Host (Coast
Entertainment Show), Radio Promotion Director (KBCH/KCRF), and also
NIE/Circulation Sales Manager (STATESMAN JOURNAL NEWSPAPER).
Bonnie has a depth of understanding that reaches further than just behind
the scenes, and that thoroughness is demonstrated in the perseverance to
correctly present each story with the wit and wisdom necessary to compel
and captivate viewers and readers alike. She holds awards from

the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of

Motorcycle Clubs. A lifetime activist for just causes, she continues to
strive to present facts that support Truth, Justice and Peace, as we are
in the world to change the world for the better. "TJP"
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