Video, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald edited by Joseph Fulton.
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France can go pound sand, They had 330 years to find the wreck if they wanted it so bad.
From the Griffin to the Fitz, commercial shipping on the Great Lakes has always been faced with hazards. But from the ancient Indian tribes to present day recreational boaters, it is the smaller craft that really take a beating on the Lakes. Every year there are pleasure boats that go down. I would hate to guess how many boat hulls both small and huge (The Fitz was 729' long) are laying on the bottom of all the Great Lakes. Tens of thousands I would bet.
It's amazing how many ship wrecks have happened over the years in the Great Lakes...many with more loss of life than the Edmund Fitzgerald..Of course this was made famous by the wonderful song...but here are just a few more wrecks... Alpha
Nationally it bacame famous partly due to that song, but locally it will never be forgotten because it happened at a time when so many of us were alive. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when news of that was first broadcast.
I've loved this song since it was first released. Gordon Lightfoot is one of the all time great balladeers.
Based on what I've learned about the wreck from visiting the martime museum in Duluth, MN, it sounds like he took some license with the facts (but hey, who's complaining!)
From what I understand, the ship was actually loaded at the ore docks at Duluth, MN, not "some mill in WI" (although, there are ore docks just on the other side of the harbor that are in the state of WI.) It wasn't bound for Cleveland, it was bound for Detroit. Also, the "old cook" was in his early 50s. Perhaps old compared to the rest of the crew, maybe? The place where the bell was rung was not a cathedral, but a small chapel that serves the Great Lakes mariners.
Still a great song, and I don't blame Mr Lightfoot for making some changes to make it rhyme
In the late 70s I lived in Milwaukee and remember when the ship's namesake died. His mansion overlooked Lake Michigan and was just a few blocks from my humble apartment on the East Side. He was an executive with the company that owned the ship.
Great song by Gordon Lightfoot. One of my favorites.
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