the old cook came on deck, Sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"

[Mike Mercury]

Fitzgerald sank so quickly, none of the crew had a chance to pray, or even scream.

It's true, that Lake Superior never gives up her dead.

Capt. McSorley contacted the USCG station in Grand Marais, Michigan, to inquire whether the Whitefish Point light and navigation beacon were operational. The USCG replied that their monitoring equipment indicated that both instruments were inactive.

McSorley then hailed any ships in the Whitefish Point area to report the state of the navigational aids, receiving an answer from Captain Cedric Woodard of Avafors between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. that the Whitefish point light was on but not the radio beacon. Woodard testified to the Marine Board that he overheard McSorley say, "Don't allow nobody on deck." Some time later, McSorley told Woodard, "I have a 'bad list,' I have lost both radars, and am taking heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas I have ever been in."

The last communication from the ship came at approximately 7:10 p.m., when Anderson notified Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing. McSorley reported, "We are holding our own."
She sank minutes later.

The day after the wreck, Mariners' Church in Detroit rang its bell 29 times; once for each life lost. The church continues to hold an annual memorial, reading the names of the crewmen and ringing the church bell.

in 1995, an underwater expedition salvaged the bell from Fitzgerald. Canadian engineer Phil Nuytten's atmospheric diving suit, known as the "Newtsuit," was used to retrieve the bell from the ship, replace it with a replica, and put a beer can in Fitzgerald '​s pilothouse. The accepted conclusion today is that due to "massive and advancing structural failure caused by the storms rough seas" the Fitzgerald broke apart on the surface and sank.

RIP

[Milton Fox]

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot (HD w/ Lyrics) - YouTube

[69camfrk]

Always liked that song, but it is a somber reminder of how fast things can go wrong. May the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald rest in peace.

[8Up]

Just so we can sing along with GL

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 crew 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 every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was 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 to feed ya.
At seven p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been 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 his 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 searches all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
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 till 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!

[marrepka]

RIP to the crew of the EF

Rasberries to the OP, now I have that damn song in my head

[VITE1]

[OldSarge]

The gales of November remembered.

[Dan Dlabay]

I remember well when that happened. May the 29 men rest in peace and be blessed by God.

[island14]

Originally Posted by 69camfrk

Always liked that song, but it is a somber reminder of how fast things can go wrong. May the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald rest in peace.

I always thought the song was sad..

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by island14

I always thought the song was sad..

S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald - Ringing of the Bell - YouTube

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


x 29

[StaticCling]

Oddly, I was reading about Captain McSorley today. As the song mentions, he was a well seasoned Skipper with many years of experience on the Lakes and the Oceans. He was a quiet man, but very well respected by the many crews he had commanded. Sadly, he was planning on retiring after the shipping season ended.

A lesson for all is to remember that regardless of experience, Mother Nature is in Charge and will usually WIN. It's good to be knowledgeable, but in the end she will bite you in the ass.

God Bless the Crew and Captain McSorely.

[Mike Mercury]

the Three Sisters waves:

A group of three rogue waves, often called "three sisters," was reported in the vicinity of Fitzgerald at the time she sank. The "three sisters" phenomenon is said to occur on Lake Superior as a result of a sequence of three rogue waves forming that are one-third larger than normal waves. When the first wave hits a ship's deck, before its water drains away the second wave strikes. The third incoming wave adds to the two accumulated backwashes, suddenly overloading the deck with tons of water.

Captain Cooper of Anderson reported that his ship was "hit by two 30 to 35 foot seas about 6:30 p.m., one burying the aft cabins and damaging a lifeboat by pushing it right down onto the saddle. The second wave of this size, perhaps 35 foot, came over the bridge deck." Cooper went on to say that these two waves, possibly followed by a third, continued in the direction of Fitzgerald and would have struck about the time she sank. This theory postulates that the "three sisters" compounded the twin problems of Fitzgerald* '​s known list and her slower speed in heavy seas that already allowed water to remain on her deck for longer than usual.

Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, at 2:15 p.m. on the afternoon of November 9, 1975. The last communication from the ship came at approximately 7:10 p.m Nov 10, when Anderson notified Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing. She sank minutes later. No distress signal was received.

[69camfrk]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

the Three Sisters waves:



Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, at 2:15 p.m. on the afternoon of November 9, 1975. The last communication from the ship came at approximately 7:10 p.m Nov 10, when Anderson notified Fitzgerald of an upbound ship and asked how she was doing. She sank minutes later. No distress signal was received.

I have seen a few documentaries on that wreck, and some of the speculation was that the waves you mentioned put the boat in a position where the front and aft ends were supported by the water, but the majority of the hull was "out" of the water and simply snapped in half. It would certainly explain why there was no distress call.

[Kerrmudgeon]

Gordon Lightfoot, one of Canada's greats

That was recorded in 1976, before many of you were born probably.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by 69camfrk

I have seen a few documentaries on that wreck, and some of the speculation was that the waves you mentioned put the boat in a position where the front and aft ends were supported by the water, but the majority of the hull was "out" of the water and simply snapped in half. It would certainly explain why there was no distress call.

She was already hurting; probably due to bottoming-out in the shoals area earlier (the reported "list"). I imagine it didn't take much after that to create further catastrophic hull failure.

Imagine being out on the lake, evening(dark) hours, 50-60mph wind, heavy rain and swelling seas; a continous non-stop rollercoaster ride. The crew probably didn't realize they were sinking until they were already well under water. No time to even say the name of a loved one, or plead to god.

[mrvette]

OH YEH, I remember hearing of that EF sinking......but decades earlier, the power of the lakes was explained to me, on a motor trip from my cousin's house in W. Cleveland Ohio, around the lakes, through Chicago, and up the shore of Lake Michigan into Minn. looking out to a huge trestle on the right it went out about 1.5 miles into the lake, and was WAY the hell up in the air, which I thought odd.....so eventually we turned left away from the lake, and went up mountains pretty high.....on the right side of the highway was trees planted for a very long stretch...on the other side of the trees was a RR track as we came to find out we had stopped at a gas station on the left side of the roadway, and when we standing there Mom went to the can and the guy is pumping gas and the ground started to shake like an earthquake, I mean it was rockin and rollin pretty good, and LOUD too as the IRON train went by going downhill about 100 mph....we freeked out and the attendant just laughed....and told us what it was....and explained why that huge trestle was so far up in the air, because the train was so heavy it can't be stopped, essentially....so it has to go uphill for about a mile or more to be able to stop..........and came to the Mesabi iron range/ditch stood on the observation deck and watch cranes/shovels so huge they load a RR car at one shot, they look like short gray coal cars that we all know, but these cars are maybe 60% of the length of a typical coal car...... it is the largest man made ditch in the world, the sides are as red as anything seen in the Grand Canyon, the size of the ditch is measured in miles deep and wide and long the iron ore is extremely heavy much more than just rock, and dense too.....after that we went up the road much high elevation to Bemidji (sp?) where we swam in water that was crystal clear and about 40f temp, freeze the nuts off a polar bear it will......

all in all one of the BEST family vacation trips ever taken....certainly an education much superior than anything learned in boring screwals, even 55 years ago....I was early teens during that trip.....


So the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald description above makes total sense to me, and I got an early education first hand, as to just where and HOW 200 million automobiles came from, much less Rail Road tracks and locomotives/cars etc.....

[Ol Timer]

Originally Posted by marrepka

RIP to the crew of the EF

Rasberries to the OP, now I have that damn song in my head

For the second day now.

[09CTSV]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

She was already hurting; probably due to bottoming-out in the shoals area earlier (the reported "list"). I imagine it didn't take much after that to create further catastrophic hull failure.

Imagine being out on the lake, evening(dark) hours, 50-60mph wind, heavy rain and swelling seas; a continous non-stop rollercoaster ride. The crew probably didn't realize they were sinking until they were already well under water. No time to even say the name of a loved one, or plead to god.

I can relate to being in the North Atlantic and taking a ride about as hard as that. Three days of crackers and rest with nothing other than essential work being done.
I can also remember my Grandfather taking us out on Saginaw Bay and catching a North Easter. Try lifting fishing nets in 20 to 30 foot seas. I wonder why I went in the Navy after all of that.

[The Cripp]

We'll never know what happened.

[69camfrk]

And 40 years later, it's still in the headlines. Definitely the stuff legends are made of.

Edmund Fitzgerald sinking remains a Great Lakes mystery 40 years later | Fox News