The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed When the gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the American side Coming back from some mill in Wisconson As the big freighters go it was bigger than most With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms When they left fully loaded for Cleveland And later that night when the ships bell rang Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.
The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound And a wave broke over the railing And every man knew, as the Captain did, too, T'was the witch of November come stealing.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the gales of November came slashing When afternoon came it was freezing rain In the face of a hurricane West Wind
When supper time came the old cook came on deck Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya At 7PM a main hatchway caved in He said fellas it's been good to know ya.
The Captain wired in he had water coming in And the good ship and crew was in peril And later that night when his lights went out of sight Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the words turn the minutes to hours The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.
They might have split up or they might have capsized They may have broke deep and took water And all that remains is the faces and the names Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings In the ruins of her ice water mansion Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams, The islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below Lake Ontario Takes in what Lake Erie can send her And the iron boats go as the mariners all know With the gales of November remembered.
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee Superior, they say, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early.
My grandfather was a retired lake sailor and I've been on a few - although the Fitz was not one. He did a few trips on it, but usually worked on the Cleveland Cliffs, Ford, or U.S. Steel boats.
I did to I loved that boat becasue of the song mad me look into the boat, I have a interactive CD of the dive video that you can control like you are in the sub, purdy cool, RIP guys!:usa:
I was 4 and still remember everyone talking about it. My next door next door neighbor had/has all the original footage from the first dives on it. We seen it at his house when they got it and he also had a big mural painted on his basement wall remembering the crew. Was a bit creepy but very cool.
I seen Tom Farnquist (he was my 7th grade science teacher) on the history channel doing some show that was investigating the reason it sank and was very interesting. At the end of their show they still didn't make a final conclusion on why it really went down.
The familys (for the most part) got some closure when they raised the bell from the Fitzgerald and they replaced with with a memorial bell. That was in the mid 90's if I remember right. One of the women said that when the memorial had started on the boat over the wreck site a lone butterfly came and landed on her. She said it must have been her father because there was no other reason for a butterfly to come out of nowhere in the middle of the lake. Kind of odd but interesting thought.
A good family friend of mine was on the crew that brought the bell up and with the National Geographic expeditions. Sounds like it was really interesting. I got to see some home footage of the dive.
My Grandfather worked ships in the great lakes during WWII and after. I had seen a few pictures Grandpa had taken during the war when the material just had to get through...ice 4+ feet thick on the decks and propane torchs chained to doors to melt ice and heat doors so they could be opened. Freaky and spooky, I am not brave enough to work inside a ship or tough enough to work in a steel plant...been in both. I salute the guys working the ships and everyone in the armed forces for Sunday's Veteran's Day.
I was 2 so I don't remember when it happened, but I have read a few books and been to Whitefish Point a couple times. There have been many shipwrecks on the great lakes and in the books I've read on them sailors dread coming into the great lakes, most would rather stay out on the ocean! Just like the weather changes in a blink of an eye in MI it's worse on the lakes! As for the song I don't think that it is too popular except in MI.
In Canada it is popular too. May they rest in peace.
Brian
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