On this day in 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank off Whitefish Point.
Have at it Gordon...............

Sad day for sure for shipping on the big lakes.
Will have to play the Gordy song later in my truck on my way to work.

“......29 times.”

A lot changed regarding Great Lakes Maritime safety after the tragic loss of the Fitz...

I wonder if there is a song that exemplifies the bravery of the crew of the bulk carrier Aurthor Anderson...My hat is still off to them...

I try to listen to the song every year on this day, here you go:

I remember well the day it sank. Lightfoot's song is a haunting anthem.

Yep, some things that should have changed sooner. The Carl Bradley sank in November of '58 and 33 of the 35 on board didn't make it. 23 of the lost crew were from the same small town in NE Michigan. 23 widows and a bunch of fatherless kids. Pretty tough on that town. There was never a song and most people in the great lakes region don't even know about it...

i believe the bradley broke up on lake huron & the stern kept on truckin for quite a few miles before sinking, correct me if im wrong.

Pincher, the Bradley went down in Lake Michigan...But yes, it did break in two...You might be thinking of the Morrell, one of the last "pig iron" ships where the stern sailed on...

i believe i read that one of the survivors was in his rack, just underwear on when it happened & they figured the oil coating his skin is what saved him. others had clothing on that froze solid & parished. hard to imagine how cold that is.

Or the "Cedarville" We still have a Memorial Service in Rogers City every year as both crews were all local at that time

i believe your right. a bunch of books about all the great lakes wrecks, i get the names and locations mixed up. ever read "white hurricane" ? greatest martime loss in u.s history. early days of lake shipping, under powered boats with nothing but a compass and watch to navigate with. they didnt call it dead reckoning for nothing!

Even this Okie listens to the song every year on this day. Thanks for posting.

Story of lazy man load. Over loaded it from what I heard.

Yes, Pincher I have read that...I have also read a lot of Frederick Stonehouse, and others over the years...

Not so much jbyrd, more of a failure to secure hatches (although some were unable to be made water-tight)...I believe the Fitz was slowly sinking most of the trip and McSorely never really knew it...IMO it finally "hogged" between two waves and her fate was sealed...A couple of giant waves caught her astern, pushed her bow under and sent her to the bottom...

Of course, to your point of over-loading, the original load-line from 1958 was changed twice over her tenure, so the freeboard went from (I believe) 15 feet to perhaps 11 feet...By 1958 standards, you could look at it as overloaded, but NOT because of the laziness of the crew...

The Fitz was not overloaded. I buy into the theory that she touched on Six Fathom shoal…..I think that is the name.
The Great Lakes are littered with hundreds of wrecks……it’s too bad that only the Fitz is remembered

Yes, that is the name of the shoal...

I understand your thinking there Super, but that is a pretty shallow shoal and MANY divers scoured that shoal the following spring and there was no sign of paint or newly fractured rock that would have most assuredly been evident if the Fitz had foundered there...

I'm still in the group that believes she was taking greenwater over unsecured hatch and combings for nearly the entire trip, and the weight eventually hogged her...The railing being down is a big part of that conclusion...

Bunch of complainers today, jeez.

Lightfoot wrote the song when it happened. Not like he was forgetting other wrecks.

I always felt it reminded folks about the hazards of shipping and if anything showed that even in "modern" times the risk was there.

I have always been intrigued by Lake Superior. Going to school in Marquette opened my eyes even more to the power of the big lake. Drank a lot of beers and listed to the song countless times. The Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point is very cool. Eerie, but worth seeing.

I'm on the fence on the reason for it going down. Either clipped 6 fathom shoal or the combo of the leaky hatches and arched between 2 40' waves and just plain broke.

We hit the museum whenever we are in the area. My daughter used to be terrified of it. The strange lighting and music creeped her out. Showed her this pic this morning (she's now 12 going on 18) and she asked why I didn't fix her hair before taking the pic. How things change...

No complaining here Rusty, I just like to remember that the Anderson turned around and went back out after sailing through (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) and making it to safe harbour while the two "salties" heading uplake declined to assist...That is of course after Captian Cooper had to practically beg the Coast Guard to begin a search for the Fitz...