Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
Click on Mark Twain to jump to Troutbirders book review blog

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Remains of the Edmund Fitzgerald

In case you missed it the following link will take you to my alternate semi-literary blog Troutbirder II, where I did a review of a book about the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter The Edmund Fitzgerald.
         http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=399515599170267990#editor/target=post;postID=1215543655223839414.
 The reason I mention this is because a recent mini vacation to the Soo Locks at Sault St. Marie, Michigan brougth a startling reminder of the tragedy of the "Fitz" on Lake Superior. Here's the story.....
We, the Troutbirders and friends John and Joann, were touring a docked former Great Lakes  frieghter, now converted to museum. We saw the inner layout of the giant ship which had hauled (among other things) iron ore from Minnesota mines to steel mills in the east.







And then among all the memorabilia I saw it. The great ship had gone down before reaching safe harbor not to far from where I stood. There were no survivors except lifeboat #2
 right in front of me......

19 comments:

  1. For some reason I was thinking about this very event the other day and started writing a post for the anniversary, which I believe is the first week in November. And there you are looking at the lifeboat. Nice pics. A sad and tragic story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sad piece of history. memorialized in song.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Standing in front of such a tragic piece of history, is bound to make you think.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kia ora TB,
    Love the history. I was a junior in high school when the song by Gordon Lightfoot came out and it seemed every morning during two a days that song woke me up on the radio. Haunting. On my recent trip home my Kiwi wife and 9 year old son could not believe Lake Michigan was a freshwater lake. My wife had to taste it! Going to have to put that tune on and give it a listen. Kia kaha!
    Robb

    ReplyDelete
  5. That must have been traumatic for you. You have some interesting journeys and thanks for sharing them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tragic and chilling! I can understand your fascination.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sends chills down my back just reading about it .

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very harsh reality, hearing the song realy didn't bring the actual story to me for years until i read up on it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My husband was Medical Director at Northwestern Mutual for more than 20 years. On our first visit there I was surprised to see a portrait of the real Edmund Fitzgerald, a former CEO of the company. The story and the song are fascinating. Thanks for sharing this story.

    You're giving me earworms again. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great song and story. Now I will tell you one.
    My best friends Dad was on the ore boats. He accepted a job on the Edmond Fitz..and was headed there to board ship when he was offered a higher paying job on another ship...scary:(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow that would be quite the find I have read everything about that sad part of our history.
    This must have been something to see. B

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've been to these locks! I used to spend summer with my cousins in the UP! This was one of our favorite destinations. I remember that ship - wasn't there a ballad sung about it?
    Ann
    PS
    Baron is looking good!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I remember the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I often saw these great freighters when I lived near Cleveland, but never had a chance to visit one.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gordon Lightfoot - a classic song from a true Canadian! Cool that you saw the memorabilia! Sad the story behind it. :(
    xo Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  15. i remember seeing a documentary about a diving team bringing up the ship's bell - did it stay up or did they put it back in its final resting place? such a grievous episode of maritime history - thank you for the poignant reminder...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Seeing that lifeboat would have given me shivers.

    I started doing a five-minute talk on the Edmund Fitzgerald in my classes on the anniversary of its sinking. That grew to a period and then three days.

    I used it as a basis for a study on the Great Lakes, using "The Great Lakes Song" and "White Squall" by Pat Dailey, well worth a listen.

    We used maps and kids could draw the ship for extra credit. Of course, we listened a lot to the song by Gordon Lightfoot and discussed the lyrics and mapped it out.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Growing up with Duluth our nearest city, the story of the Fitzgerald has always intrigued me.
    We were on a mini-vacation in the Apostle Islands late this summer and we took a 4 hour cruise out around the islands.. There was great commentary from the captain & another maritime expert of the crew, and one of the stories they shared was about the Edmund Fitzgerald, actually a few stories, surrounding it. Some chilling, some heroic, like the amazing bravery & dedication of the captain & crew of the Arthur M. Anderson. All of the stories very humbling.
    Glad you visited our blog again - I enjoyed your comments in the past. Finally dialed in as a follower so I can keep up with your adventures.

    ReplyDelete