The Legend Lives On.....

[idigrust]

Time is flying by us...get out and dig some cans!!!!!!

[danielj]

When i was kid my Dad would take us up to Lake Superior and we would stay in cabin by Split Rock Lighthouse.
I think the town was called Castle Danger.
I remember seeing the ore boats in the water and just how big the Great Lake are.
This was in 1976 so there was lots of talk still about the sinking.
The lakes are more like an ocean than lakes.
I really think Pfeiffer and Schmidt did the best to show the Great North West.

[Wheaton]

Dan, I appreciate you keeping up with this In Memoriam thread. Just tonight my youngest son Tom wanted to ride with me down to the store. He likes taking a drive with dad mostly because he gets to run the MP3s on the stereo, and we take turns playing favorite songs. Coincidentally, the last pick this evening fell on me and I went straight to The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.

My last act as a laid-off Midwesterner - before we came south - was to take my son camping up by Paradise and Tahquamenon Falls. We stayed for a few days and enjoyed the silent luxury that is the UP of Michigan. I made a point of teaching him some local lore. Given our proximity to Whitefish Bay and the time we spent next to Lake Superior, the story of the Fitz and crew was a biggie. Tom was six then and I didn't expect him to remember much, but he just turned ten and recalls that little camping adventure with wonder and nostalgia. He's often asked when we're going back.

I asked him tonight as the song was playing if he remembered the story. "Oh, yeah," he said, "this is about what happened up in the UP, on that big lake." Good boy.

It's been noted that the Great Lakes shipping trade is dwindling as the years pass. I'm sometimes overly sentimental but for whatever reason, I feel it's important as times change to fill the younger folks in on how things were different once, and where we came from. I used to feel changed by my granddad's stories from early in the century; somehow, an historical point of reference has an anchoring effect on the young. I'm proud that my boy has some awareness of an oddly bittersweet event that dad can plainly recall hearing on a radio newscast in 1975: tragic in its consequences, but salient in the pride and commitment of the crew. He has some small understanding of the domestic sacrifices men have made to keep our country and lifestyle moving forward, and maybe even an inkling of what it means to be truly dedicated to something.

As always, a salute to the lost crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And another to the the Arthur Andersen as it endeavored through the storm to maintain status on Captain McSorley and his 28 men. The legend, indeed, lives on.

[idigrust]

The Legend gains another year......

[Leon]

Another year gone by again? I think I say this every year. LEON.

[danielj]

Found this Nat. Geo. Mag while going thru Dads things and kept it.
its vol. 189 no. 1 Jan. 1996 and shows some pics of the Edmund.
click to enlarge.
I think its nice that you bring this up each year Dan.
Im sure the relatives of the Crew would appreciate your post each year.

[Clarkston1]

A toast to the Big Fitz and her crew.

[Wheaton]

Looks like the churchbell just rang 29 times in Detroit again. Salute, and amen.

[Daev Larrazolo]

Just watched the video, they scrolled the names and ages of the men. Several of them in their early 20s.


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[idigrust]

Today marks 38 years since the Big Fitz came to rest in two pieces at the bottom of Lake Superior, it also marks the 100th Anniversary of The Great Storm of 1913 (Nov. 7th-10th).Here are the Statistics from that storm.

Ship Sunk/Casualties

Lake Superior

Leafield: 18 victims
Henry B. Smith: 25 victims

Lake Michigan

Plymouth (barge): 7 victims

Lake Huron

Argus: 28 victims
James Carruthers: 22 victims
Hydrus: 25 victims
John A. McGean: 28 victims
Charles S. Price: 28 victims
Regina: 20 victims
Isaac M. Scott: 28 victims
Wexford: 20 victims

Lake Erie

Lightship LV 82, Buffalo: 6 victims

[Leon]

Another year gone by again? I think I say this every year. LEON.

[idigrust]

Very Eerie 1/2 hr.

[danielj]

Great Lakes Brewing did a nice job with this label design.

[Shevy85Ale]

And a damn good beer to boot

[Wheaton]

38 years. Geez...

[idigrust]

38 years. Geez...

and another has passed by.... 39 !

[John H.]

Time waits for no man, our time will come soon enough.

JCH

[Wheaton]

It's 7:42PM EDT, and I'm therefore 17 minutes late. I had hoped to post at 7:25PM, the time on November 10th when the Edmund Fitzgerald finally disappeared from the Arthur Anderson's radar.

RIP.

[Wheaton]

Just found this, a couple minutes of footage that gives an idea of just how enormous the Fitzgerald was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7Z8ZWgAMk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[idigrust]

40 Years....... Fare thee well.

[Leon]

Just seen it one the 6 o clock news & was wondering if you were going to update this post. Thought maybe you forgot? RIP. LEON.

[Shevy85Ale]

Dan,

I see this post every year, and I salute you for keeping the memory alive. I watch the Gordon Lightfoot video every year, it's the least I can do. I've listened to the radio transmissions, the one captain scared to death to go look for survivors, but willing to do it anyway. that takes balls the size of grapefruits. My question is do you have a personal connection to this tragedy? The video is haunting when they scroll through the names of the men lost, with pictures and all. No matter what your connection, thank you.

[idigrust]

No connection except I remember the news on the TV that night, and living in Michigan near the waterways, we see the big boats everyday.

[idigrust]

Dan,

the one captain scared to death to go look for survivors, but willing to do it anyway. that takes balls the size of grapefruits. .

Here is Capt. Cooper recalling the events, at 2:35 "He said there is a ship on the bottom, I said there may be two if we go back out"....but they did.

[Wheaton]

40 years. * Salute *

I went to the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point over the summer and got lots of pictures. I'll pull out the Edmund Fitzgerald bits and post them soon.

Oh, and Dan - nice trigger finger on the 7:25PM post! Perfect.

[kb]

I favorite this tweet and humm or sing that verse all day .. The big lake they call githcie goomi..


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[idigrust]

41

[thatsus02]

it was windy enough here today to sink a big ship

[idigrust]

42 years
Raise a toast at 7:10pm est tonight.

[Uncle Jackson]

I had that thought last night. The Lake was roaring so loud that our dog would not go out. November always seems worse than the middle of winter. It is ugly until the Lake freezes over.