Within the wake of the death of musician Gordon Lightfoot and his famous folk song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” FreightWaves Classics is looking back on the wreck itself and the historical accuracy of the song.
The lyrics of Lightfoot’s song, which is nearly an anthem within the Midwest, tell the story of a cargo ship lost during a storm on Lake Superior. The song was released in 1976 and made it into the highest 40 charts fairly quickly.
That was a bit of odd, according to The Recent York Times. Typically, pop songs within the mid-Seventies were relatively short and focused on love. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is a 6.5-minute tune in regards to the sinking of a ship and is told with surprising historical accuracy.
FreightWaves Classics covered the famous story of Casey Jones and its appearances in popular culture over time, most notably a song by the Grateful Dead. Nonetheless, references to the story in entertainment were often quite different from the person himself and what actually happened.
Lightfoot didn’t make the identical mistake along with his tribute to the tragic incident on Lake Superior.
The song was published a yr after the tragedy and its lyrics hold true to the actual story. The artist was inspired by an article he had read on the sinking of the ship. Relations of the lost crew told S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online that Lightfoot often attended memorial services for the ship and crew members and described him as “ guy,” “a real man” and “blessed.”
As for the tragedy itself, the Edmund Fitzgerald set sail on Nov. 9, 1975, with 26,116 tons of taconite pellets of processed iron ore and 29 crew members. It launched from Burlington Northern Railroad Dock No.1 in Superior, Wisconsin, and joined up with one other ship, the Arthur M. Anderson, which had departed Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Overseen by the experienced Capt. Ernest M. McSorley, the Edmund Fitzgerald took the lead only 10 to fifteen miles from its partner, maintaining radio communication. McSorley and Capt. Bernie Cooper of the Anderson opted to sail toward the north of Lake Superior attributable to a growing November storm. The thought was that the trail would keep each ships protected between Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula, in response to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
As they journeyed through the lake, the weather worsened, with winds gusts reaching 50 knots and wave heights reaching 12 to 16 feet. The Fitzgerald passed Michipicoten Island on the afternoon of Nov. 10, while the Anderson was just reaching the island.
Cooper received a transmission from McSorley, who was aware his ship had been damaged.
“Anderson, that is the Fitzgerald. I actually have a fence rail down, two vents lost or damaged, and a listing. I’m checking down. Will you stay by me till I get to Whitefish?” Cooper recalled McSorley saying. The plan was to shut the gap between the 2 ships while the Fitzgerald had each pumps running.
The 2 continued communicating navigational information but nothing in regards to the ship being any worse off. A serious wave hit the Anderson at 5:20 p.m., destroying the ship’s starboard lifeboat.
One other wave at 6:55 p.m. engulfed the vessel however the Anderson raised back up and maintained onward. Cooper believes this is probably going when the Fitzgerald was lost, he explained in an interview with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
The ship would disappear from radar on and off, likely since the waves were so high they interfered with transmissions. The 2 captains spoke for the last time at 7:10 p.m., and the Fitzgerald was never heard from again. No distress call was ever sent.
Chilling tapes of radio transmissions between the Coast Guard and Cooper showed the intense concern for the well-being of the Fitzgerald and its crew. Cooper could now not see lights where they need to have been. The 2 agreed that the Fitzgerald had likely gone down, and a discussion on whether to risk the rough conditions to search for survivors took place.
Some debris was found but no survivors and even stays of crew members ever surfaced.
A U.S. Navy plane discovered a robust contact on its magnetic anomaly detector 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point. Nevertheless it wasn’t until May 1976 that anything was found.
A cable-controlled undersea recovery vehicle took 43,000 feet of videotape in addition to 900 pictures until an upside stern was found 535 feet below Lake Superior’s surface with the name “Edmund Fitzgerald” on the side.
No exact reason behind the wreck was discovered. While some imagine it was attributable to a poorly secured hatch, many dispute that because the crew was very experienced and unlikely to make a mistake like that — just like the story of the missing M.V. Derbyshire.
Attributable to the destruction of the lifeboats and the undeniable fact that a distress call was never sent, it’s believed that whatever the explanation for the Fitzgerald happening, it likely happened extremely fast.
Not one of the bodies of the 29 crew members were recovered.
The ship’s 200-pound bell is on display on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point after it was recovered on July 4, 1995. It was restored by Michigan State University, in response to S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online to repair it from water damage. Yearly on Nov. 10, a bell-ringing ceremony takes place to honor the 29 crew members.
Lightfoot’s lyrics, “The lake, it is alleged, never gives up her dead/ When the skies of November turn gloomy,” has a really real meaning for those acquainted with Lake Superior. Attributable to extreme cold, bacteria that might normally break down debris or human stays cannot survive. So it is probably going that the stays of the crew members are still intact a long time later under the surface.
To ward off tourists and maintain respect for the dead, it is against the law under Canadian law to dive to the wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
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