A moment to remember

[kiltedwolfman]

35 years ago the Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on lake Superior.

[BoldHighlander]

I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot's song earlier this evening. Thanks for the reminder.

[Woodsman]

I had the privledge of hearing Gordon Lightfoot sing this live in concert about a year ago. His voice has changed a little bit since his illness but he still sings this haunting tale well.

[ohiopiper]

Somewhere in a drawer I have the front page of a now-defunct newspaper that told the story in Painesville, Ohio.

Very strange, how that happened. Often it is blamed on the "Three Sisters", a unique and dangerous wave pattern found on Lake Superior.

[Beertigger]

[Detroitpete]

I'm a middle-aged man of Michigan. I grew up here and still remember the fall when we were all transfixed by the loss of the Fitz. As a young boy I listened to reports of its loss and subsequent memorial on the radio. I still remember seeing the interior of Mariner's Church in my mind's eye as they rang the bell.

I still pass by that church weekly.

It is a pause--a place in our history that all of us in this region share. Many of us love our state and her waters. We've sailed, boated and fished from Ontario, to Erie, up the Detroit River to St. Clair, throught the St. Clair River into Huron, made the turn at White Fish, sailed Superior, back down Michigan. For some of us, every drop of Superior that touches us is a reminder that this water also took the Fitz and others like her.

To the last of the big boats to go down--this sailor and man of Michigan says fair winds and following seas, shipmates.

[artificer]

Still a great loss, and a very haunting song.

Having been caught in a small storm on Superior (where the waves went from their normal 3-4' to 11+' in the blink of an eye), I cannot even begin to fathom the fury of the storm the Fitz broke up in.

[Oldhiker]

How can that only be 35 years ago... I remember this?

[Pleater]

The song is sung on the English folk scene - I had not heard it sung by Gordon Lightfoot, thanks for the link Beertigger.

I was once sailing a small yacht - 20 ft sloop - in the Solent - heading East with a storm force wind dead astern and the tide running West - the waves were so high that they took the wind from the sails. As we went down into the trough, everything vibrated, the dagger boards, the rudder, even the mast when the pressure of the sails left it.

Pure terror, triple distilled. It makes my hair stand on end and my shoulder muscles knot up just to think about it even now.

When I hear that song I remember that day.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Lallans]

The song is sung on the English folk scene - I had not heard it sung by Gordon Lightfoot Anne the Pleater :ootd:

Then you hadn't heard it sung right!