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There have been many events that have happened in the history of our country, that have later been memorialized in song. This past Tuesday, fifty-one years ago, on November 10, 1975, the topic of another memorial song became the idea for another memorial song written and recorded to pay tribute and remember a tragedy and a group who perished.
On that tragic date of November 10th in 1975, on Lake Superior, approximately 17 miles NW of Whitefish Point, MI, a 729-foot-long bulk cargo ship carrying taconite pellets and 29 crew members under the leadership of Captain Ernest McSorley, was swept under the force of a November gale with hurricane-type winds causing massive waves. Though there was no official, single cause listed indicating why the ship went down, but the end result was the perishing of all 29 crew members.
Being a frequent visitor of Cleveland, OH, and having been to the Great Lakes Science Center many times with my wife, son, granddaughters, colleagues, and many students from my classes, visiting the Center on the shores of Lake Erie in the 216, I have often seen, heard, and read about the tragedy of the event and loss of all its crew.
Sometimes, we learn about history by visiting museums, reading history books, doing Google Searches, and even, in my day, looking up historic events in our encyclopedias. (Yes, I am that old.)
I learned many of the happenings which occurred that November 10th, 1975 day from a song that was written on the actual day of its occurrence, was first recorded in December of 1975, and then released in August of 1796 at Eastern Sound Studios in Toronto, Ontario. It was written, composed, and performed by one of my favorite folk-rock performers (I have four of his albums), Gordon Lightfoot. Its title, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
There is an annual memorial service held each November by the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral, where, as the song explains, a bell chimes 29 times to honor all the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald: Ernest M. McSorley, John H. McCarthy, James A. Pratt, Michael E. Armagost, Thomas H Benton, Ransom E, Cundy, John J Poviach, Eugene W O'Brien, John D. Simmons, Thomas E. Borgeson, William J. Spengler, Karl A. Peckol, Mark A. Thomas, Paul M Riippa, Bruce L. Hudson, Nolan F. Church, Frederick J. Beetcher, Allen G. Kalmon, Robert C. Rafferty, David E. Weiss, George J. Holl, Edward F. Bindon, Thomas E. Edwards, Russell G. Haskell, Oliver J. Champeau, Gordon F. MacLellan, Joseph W. Mazes, Ralph G. Walton, and Blaine H. Wilhelm. After the passing of Gordon Lightfoot (May 2023), at the 10 November 2023 Memorial Remembrance Day of the Tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the bell was rung a thirtieth time, that last chime in honor, and memory, of Gordon Lightfoot.
The song itself has become a history lesson. It tells the sad story of that day factually and accurately. If you haven't ever heard the song, I invite you to YouTube it and listen to the song memorializing this sad and tragic event, that sometimes gets lost in some pages of history books, but the tragedy is, has been, and I venture, will be, forever memorialized in remembrance of those who died that fateful day through the pen, music, and voice of Gordon Lightfoot. The words of Lightfoot's memorial lesson...
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Song by Gordon Lightfoot ‧ 1976
"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 twenty-six thousand 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 Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good 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 ship’s bell rang
Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T’was the witch of November come stealin’
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin’
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’
“Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya”
At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said
“Fellas, it’s been good to know ya”
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
If they’d put 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 rooms 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 twenty-nine 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 said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early"
Perhaps you might pay tribute to, and honor, those on the Edmund Fitzgerald these four days later, and put it on your phone calendars for celebration every year after this one. All you need to do is replay the YouTube video and listen to the words once again.