The Edmond Fitzgerald wreck

[uriah1]

Hard to believe this happened in modern times . So many souls.
Rip

The Edmund Fitzgerald started its tragic journey 47 years ago today

This heartbreaking loss amid the gales of November is forever part of our Great Lakes maritime history.

www.mlive.com

 

[Peegoo]

One of the best songs ever written came out of this terrible tragedy.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

One of the best songs ever written came out of this terrible tragedy.

" I looooove Edmund Fitzgerald's voice!"
( Elaine, on Seinfeld)

Side note: a few years ago I joined into an informal casual Bluegrass group ( folks that wanted to get away from 100% traditional), and Gordon Lightfoot's songs are a great 'resource to mine' for material-he is practically worshipped by Bluegrass folks, and I never knew...

 

[drf64]

" I looooove Edmund Fitzgerald's voice!"
( Elaine, on Seinfeld)

Side note: a few years ago I joined into an informal casual Bluegrass group ( folks that wanted to get away from 100% traditional), and Gordon Lightfoot's songs are a great 'resource to mine' for material-he is practically worshipped by Bluegrass folks, and I never knew...

Bluegrass? For reals?

 

[Chipss36]

Thinking technology is above Mother Nature, is unwise.

I say this as one who retired, after a lot of maritime work, with an international masters license. and full stcw, cert. and a few other things.

in my youth and in the service, we busted a destroyer, cracked the superstructure in an Alaska storm. One of the few times at sea, I was truly scared, it would not be my last, anyway, At that point we got to leave the battle group, and head in for repairs.

even today with excellent comms, and tech, sometimes even the coast guard can not help, the seas get that bad, no need for even more casualties.

Things can go south in a hurry, and people still die at sea, it happens more than You think, any large body of water is a force to be reckoned with, preparation and maintenance is key.

 

[Killing Floor]

Endless suffering and misery, a horrible and unimaginable tragedy that still causes painful recoil to this day.

And the shipwreck part is bad too.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

“Oh, is it November again?”

-jaded Michigander

However,

My son is going to school up in Marquette, and I remember being up there visiting in June or July, and I’m way up in a real high part of town at some crap gas station and looking north you just see it: gray, enormous, roiling around, ominous - just waiting…

Bluegrass? For reals?

Their version of “Church Street blues” and this cover of the Gord chestnut made me rethink Punch Brothers

 

[Short on cash]

I remember when I first heard it that it I thought was something that had happened
years before.

I was surprised to learn when it did happen.
Have read several books about it through the years.

Interesting part of history.

 

[Knows3Chords]

During a brief break from attending college I worked winter maintenance for Inter Lake Steamship on the ships winter docked at the Ford River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Mi.. I remember two that were called the Barker and Tregurtha. A friends older brother was an engineer on one of the ships. He got me the job. I learned a whole new kind of respect for just exactly was involved in being a mariner of the Great Lakes from working with many of these guys. It's no job for a nervous person, that's for sure.

 

[stephent2]

Lake Superior, there's a reason for the name. I was talking to a friend, telling her we were up on the northshore earlier that day, doing "you know, tourist stuff",..

She looks at me and says in a serious tone, "On Lake Superior we are all tourists".

 

[imwjl]

I suggest the following.

1) Look at Ventusky site to see Lake Superior today. Steady 29-32 MPH wind with 45 MPH gusts right now.
2) Look at the Duluth harbor cam and some others on YouTube to see the traffic and some of the ships.
3) Look on the marinetraffic.com site. The Fitzgerald sister ship Arthur M Anderson is near Detroit right now. Look at how much lake traffic there is but right now even the more modern 1000 footers - one destined for Ohio - are hugging north shore.

Lake Superior is beautiful, amazing and a place for absolutely no f*ckry.

On a different note, I cannot wait for the lake effect snow to start and trips to tip of Keweenaw and north shore with my skis and fat bike.

 

[thunderbyrd]

I hope I never hear that song again.

 

[Chuckster]

I worked as a bartender in an old floating tugboat that was converted into a restaurant on Quincy Bay, just south of Boston.

The name? You guessed it.

 

[Strat Jacket]

Most every summer me and my son & family head north to Minnesota, crossing the R.I. Bong bridge from Duluth to Superior. Not once have we failed to blast Gordon as we cross over.

 

[Blues Power]

tragedies are always due to a chain of compounding errors or events
its usually not one event or malfunction that brings something down

 

[Trenchant63]

tragedies are always due to a chain of compounding errors or events
its usually not one event or malfunction that brings something down

Agreed on this case. No singular cause and no clear negligence of which I’m aware. Contrast this to the El Faro in which the captain basically said to continue into the hurricane despite trepidation on part of his crew … then the captain retired for a nap. Once he awoke, it was pretty close to the end. Very sad that a lady on the crew was sharing her concerns through email with her family as the situation developed.

 

[Guitarzan]

Thinking technology is above Mother Nature, is unwise.

I say this as one who retired, after a lot of maritime work, with an international masters license. and full stcw, cert. and a few other things.

in my youth and in the service, we busted a destroyer, cracked the superstructure in an Alaska storm. One of the few times at sea, I was truly scared, it would not be my last, anyway, At that point we got to leave the battle group, and head in for repairs.

even today with excellent comms, and tech, sometimes even the coast guard can not help, the seas get that bad, no need for even more casualties.

Things can go south in a hurry, and people still die at sea, it happens more than You think, any large body of water is a force to be reckoned with, preparation and maintenance is key.

I fish and hunt and run smaller boats on bodies of water that are not nearly as big as an ocean of the Great Lakes but things can get hairy in bad weather.

I would add that paying attention to weather, making a move before things get bad, knowing your limitations and those of your vessel and avoiding exceeding them, and having one or more marine radios and the ability to communicate are important as well.

Almost 20 years ago a small group from GA went fishing in the Gulf of Mexico in a small boat in the 20 foot range. It was something like a bay boat or skiff for inshore fishing but they took it out a few miles to a reef. They obviously did not check weather and did not haul tail back when they had the first signs of a bad swell. They waited too long and got into trouble. The boat capsized and they did not have back-up, handheld marine radios. They suffered further from ignorance because one guy got the idea that he needed to siphon gas from the tank to keep the boat afloat demonstrating he was unaware seawater is heavier than gasoline. He ingested gas, was poisoned, and died. I believe one other drowned and a couple survived.

One of the survivors then defended their action by making a statement to the effect of it was not the first time they had take that small, inshore fishing vessel offshore to fish that reef so it's not like they were stupid and should be criticized.

They were clearly ignorant and inexperienced and did a lot of things wrong and the fact that they got away with previously in better weather did not mean what they had done in the past was not ignorant and wrong.

 

[Guitarzan]

I know a fellow that lives near Duluth, MN that used to be a mariner on the Great Lakes. He was on a smaller boat that concluded its business for the season earlier that the EF and got notice that the EF was short a man. He served as a substitute crewman in on the EF not too long before it sank, I believe it was the previous year.

The EF was a really big boat and took more space and much longer to load and unload than other ore boats on the Great Lakes. It was found in two large pieces so the stress of the storm and pounding it took broke its back (keel).

 

[Ron R]

Bluegrass? For reals?

Good songwriting is good songwriting.

 

[Ron R]

Even more recent is this tragic event:
the MS Estonia