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Thread: 12 Memorable Facts About the S.S. 'Edmund Fitzgerald'

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    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    12 Memorable Facts About the S.S. 'Edmund Fitzgerald'

    For those of you in that area or are Gordon Lightfoot fans. :)
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    On November 10, 1975, two ships made their way in tandem across the stormy waters of Lake Superior. One was the Arthur M. Anderson, led by Captain Jesse Cooper. The other, captained by Ernest McSorley, was the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald.

    The ship was last seen on radar around 7:15 p.m. All 29 men on board were lost with it, and today, more than four decades after the most famous shipwreck in Great Lakes history, the cause is still a mystery.

    Here's what we do know about the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, and what happened on that fateful day.

    1. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

    The large cargo vessels that roamed the five Great Lakes were known as lakers, and the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was, at the time, the biggest ever built. It was constructed as a "maximum sized" bulk carrier and spanned 729 feet—the first laker to reach that length. It sat 39 feet high with a width of 75 feet, and weighed more than 13,000 tons without cargo. It was christened on June 8, 1958, and made its first voyage on September 24 the same year.

    2. The ship was owned by an insurance company.

    Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan, was contracted to build the ship in 1957 by Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company, which had invested heavily in the iron and minerals industries. With the commissioning of the Fitzgerald, Northwestern Mutual became the first American insurance company to build its own ship—at a cost of $8.4 million, the most expensive price tag for a freighter at the time, according to Michael Schumacher's The Mighty Fitz.

    3. It was named after the head of the company.

    The chairman of Northwestern Mutual had a long history with the Great Lakes shipping industry. Edmund Fitzgerald's grandfather captained a ship on the lakes, his father owned a shipyard, and they both had ships named after them. After construction of the Fitzgerald was complete, Northwestern Mutual placed its charter with the Columbia Transportation Division of Oglebay Norton Company, based in Cleveland...

    12 Memorable Facts About the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald

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    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post

    2. The ship was owned by an insurance company.
    Was it an Insurance job


    Love the scene in Seinfeld where they were confusing this shipwreck with another one

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    Very close to us. There were were several lakes freighters anchored in our bay seeking shelter from the raging storm. Hurricane force winds wrecked houses, trees were on powerlines. Took the week to recover. I was a 18yr old outdoor caretaker of a lakeshore resort association and I had 36 hemlocks blocking roads, crunched boardwalks etc. The Manoogian Mansion on the beach had plate glass windows in the great room blown in and smashed on the floor, snow was blowing in on furniture.

    My boss has a stunned look on his face when I reported that morning. He did his best to encourage me to get going but we were headed down to check homes on the shoreline and that is when we saw a fleet of freighters in the bay. Often they would be seen on stormy mornings but strange to see so many.

    Then came the sad news of a historic tragedy.

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    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FireBrand View Post
    Very close to us. There were were several lakes freighters anchored in our bay seeking shelter from the raging storm. Hurricane force winds wrecked houses, trees were on powerlines. Took the week to recover. I was a 18yr old outdoor caretaker of a lakeshore resort association and I had 36 hemlocks blocking roads, crunched boardwalks etc. The Manoogian Mansion on the beach had plate glass windows in the great room blown in and smashed on the floor, snow was blowing in on furniture.

    My boss has a stunned look on his face when I reported that morning. He did his best to encourage me to get going but we were headed down to check homes on the shoreline and that is when we saw a fleet of freighters in the bay. Often they would be seen on stormy mornings but strange to see so many.

    Then came the sad news of a historic tragedy.
    I posted this in the Gordon Lightfoot dies thread also.

    I happened to run across a video where someone was reacting to 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' and in the comments said "They ring the bell annually on the anniversary of the sinking. This past year, the bell was rang 30 times to include the passing of Gordon Lightfoot." ("The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine timesFor each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.")
    _________________
    Look, as it were, through a telescope that will bring it up near to you; look into hell, and hear them groan; then turn the glass upwards and look at heaven, and see the saints there, in their white robes, with their harps in their hands, and hear them sing the song of redeeming love; and ask yourself--Is it possible, that I should prevail with God to elevate the sinner there? Do this, and if you are not a wicked man, and a stranger to God, you will soon have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can sustain. -Charles Finney 'The Spirit of Prayer' from 'Lectures On Revivals of Religion'

  7. #5
    Most anniversaries of that tragedy I will listen to the youtube vid of the interview and radio transmissions of McSorley and Capt Cooper of the Arthur M Anderson. The USCG had trouble keeping their helo aflight in hurricane force winds so were desperately asking Cooper to turn Anderson back out to search for survivors, risking his life, ship, crew and cargo they braved the storm but found nothing. Most are unaware of these heroic measures by the captain and crew.

    To us boat watchers and lakes ships fans, the Arthur M Anderson holds a special respect and is watched and followed in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her passing through.

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