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View Full Version : Edmund Fitzgerald 50th anniversary (Nov 10, 1975)


Tradd
11-9-25, 12:11am
The Fitz sank 50 years ago Monday. Lots of events around the Great Lakes this weekend commemorating the sinking.

This documentary was done by a Detroit TV station. John U. Bacon, the author of the new book, Gales of November, is featured in it. He really did his homework and it's an excellent book. And yes, the song is part of it. Can't not be!


https://youtu.be/8KpkceTklu0
bae
11-9-25, 1:20am
I used to see this boat quite often as a young lad, it regularly visited the small port town in Ohio where I grew up.
Tybee
11-9-25, 6:29am
One of the students at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City was on that boat.

Until we moved there, I had no idea about those November winds and the violence of the November weather.
happystuff
11-9-25, 10:23am
So sad. I never would have thought such a thing could have happened on a lake! i like to think I have learned.
Tradd
11-9-25, 10:28am
So sad. I never would have thought such a thing could have happened on a lake! i like to think I have learned.

The Great Lakes are really inland seas.
LDAHL
11-9-25, 4:22pm
You think if the Carl D Bradley fit the rhyme scheme better we’d be talking about them here?
bae
11-9-25, 4:29pm
The Great Lakes are really inland seas.

I grew up on the shore of Lake Erie, and I saw rougher weather there during storms than I’ve ever seen here on the shore of the Pacific, admittedly the sheltered Salish Sea. The fetch on Lake Erie was much longer than I can experience here, except from one very particular direction, so even in huge gales the sea state isn’t as vicious. Plus, the water is generally deeper here than Lake Erie - on Erie, giant waves can spring up very quickly from a calm sea.
Tradd
11-9-25, 5:15pm
You think if the Carl D Bradley fit the rhyme scheme better we’d be talking about them here?

Gordon Lightfoot’s attention was caught by a Newsweek article that had everything that turned up in the song, including Gitche Gumee. Look up the article. It’s titled “November, the Cruelest Month.”
happystuff
11-10-25, 10:25am
The Great Lakes are really inland seas.

I think that was actually "forgotten knowledge" on my part. Thanks.
LDAHL
11-10-25, 11:28am
The rather crowded Wisconsin state flag includes a sailor in recognition of our maritime history.