November 10, 1975 – On The Big Lake They Called “Gitche Gumee”

It was 47 years today that the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Michigan’s Lake Superior. The wreck inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” a song which will no doubt play on some of the local stations throughout the day today.

I don’t think they ever really taught much about it in school growing up and All I really ever knew about the wreck was because of the lyrics of the song. It wasn’t until 1999 that I learned much more about it – and got to see a piece of it up close and personal.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum can be found in Paradise, Michigan. It is a small museum, but was absolutely fascinating. I truly enjoyed my visit there. Their website (www.shipwreckmuseum.com) says this about the Fitz:

The legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the most mysterious and controversial of all shipwreck tales heard around the Great Lakes. Her story is surpassed in books, film and media only by that of the Titanic. Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot inspired popular interest in this vessel with his 1976 ballad, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

The Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with her entire crew of 29 men on Lake Superior November 10, 1975, 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. Whitefish Point is the site of the Whitefish Point Light Station and Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) has conducted three underwater expeditions to the wreck, 1989, 1994, and 1995.

At the request of family members surviving her crew, Fitzgerald’s 200 lb. bronze bell was recovered by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society on July 4, 1995. This expedition was conducted jointly with the National Geographic Society, Canadian Navy, Sony Corporation, and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The bell is now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum as a memorial to her lost crew.

There was a movie showing in the museum about the Edmund Fitzgerald that told the story of the wreck. It made looking at the bell even more real.

According to the museum’s Facebook page, there will be a live stream later today as they “pay our respects and remember the 29 men who were lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald 47 years ago. Join us live at @shipwreckmuseum.com and our stream will be on our front page starting at 7pm (est).”

Here is the Gordon Lightfoot classic:

The last radio communication from the Fitz took place at 7:10 p.m.

Jessie B. Cooper, the captain of the nearby cargo ship the SS Arthur M. Anderson, asked how the Fitzgerald was weathering the storm and Captain Ernest M. McSorley replied, “We are holding our own.”

It is believed that the Fitzgerald then sank suddenly at about 7:15 p.m. without sending out any distress signals.

After conducting an initial futile search of the area for survivors, the Anderson sought safe harbor in Whitefish Bay in the early hours of Nov. 11, according to records.

The U.S. Coast Guard then requested the Anderson to reverse course and assist in conducting another search for the Fitzgerald, according to USCG records. They also asked U.S. vessels William Clay Ford, Armco, Roger Blough, Reserve, Wilfred Sykes and William R. Roesch; Canadian vessels Hilda Marjanne, Frontenac, John O. McKeller, Murray Bay and fishing tug James D.

No survivors were found nor any bodies recovered.

The Anderson sighted one piece of a lifeboat at 8:07 on Nov. 11 about 9 miles east of where the Fitzgerald disappeared and an hour later sighted the 2nd damaged lifeboat about 4 miles south of the first one.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was later found in Canadian waters 530 feet below the surface of Lake Superior. The ship had broken into two pieces.

One line from that Lightfoot song reads “Superior, they said, never gives up her dead” and the bodies of the 29 were never recovered.

They are:

Michael E. Armagost, 37, Third Mate from Iron River, Wisconsin

Fred J. Beetcher, 56, Porter from Superior, Wisconsin

Thomas D. Bentsen, 23, Oiler from St. Joseph, Michigan

Edward F. Bindon, 47, First Asst. Engineer from Fairport Harbor, Ohio

Thomas D. Borgeson, 41, Maintenance Man fromDuluth, Minnesota

Oliver J. Champeau, 41, Third Asst. Engineer from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

Nolan S. Church, 55, Porter from Silver Bay, Minnesota

Ransom E. Cundy, 53, Watchman from Superior, Wisconsin

Thomas E. Edwards, 50, Second Asst. Engineer from Oregon, Ohio

Russell G. Haskell, 40, Second Asst. Engineer from Millbury, Ohio

George J. Holl, 60, Chief Engineer from Cabot, Pennsylvania

Bruce L. Hudson, 22, Deck Hand from North Olmsted, Ohio

Allen G. Kalmon, 43, Second Cook from Washburn, Wisconsin

Gordon F. MacLellan, 30, Wiper from Clearwater, Florida

Joseph W. Mazes, 59, Special Maintenance Man from Ashland, Wisconsin

John H. McCarthy, 62, First Mate from Bay Village, Ohio

Ernest M. McSorley, 63, Captain from Toledo, Ohio

Eugene W. O’Brien, 50, Wheelsman from Toledo, Ohio

Karl A. Peckol, 20, Watchman from Ashtabula, Ohio

John J. Poviach, 59, Wheelsman from Bradenton, Florida

James A. Pratt, 44, Second Mate from Lakewood, Ohio

Robert C. Rafferty, 62, Steward from Toledo, Ohio

Paul M. Riippa, 22, Deck Hand from Ashtabula, Ohio

John D. Simmons, 63, Wheelsman from Ashland, Wisconsin

William J. Spengler, 59, Watchman from Toledo, Ohio

Mark A. Thomas, 21, Deck Hand from Richmond Heights, Ohio

Ralph G. Walton, 58, Oiler from Fremont, Ohio

David E. Weiss, 22, Cadet from Agoura, California

Blaine H. Wilhelm, 52, Oiler from Moquah, Wisconsin

For more on the famous shipwreck – check out this article:

https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/11/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald-photos-of-the-great-lakes-most-famous-ship.html

The Red 8 Track Tape

8-TrackTape

Recently a friend went to buy a new car. He was appalled when he found out there was no CD player in it. As a music lover, I totally get this. I want to be able to pop in the music of my choice when I am driving. Up until recently, the CD Player was a standard option. Now they provide a USB port for you to plug a thumb drive or iPod into for music. This wasn’t always the case.

Prior to the CD player, it was the cassette tape that was the choice for music. You could record your music to these 60-90 minute tapes and have your favorite cruising tunes at your finger tips. The only trouble was that if you wanted to hear a song again, you’d have to rewind it (or fast forward the other side if there was no rewind option). Prior to that mode of media – there was the 8 Track tape!

The 8 track was a continuous looped tape that had 4 stereo tracks (8 tracks total), and the player head would move play which ever track it was positioned over. You could buy 8 tracks with music already on them or, if you had a recorder (like my dad did), you could record your own. With prerecorded 8 tracks, all the songs played in their entirety with no type of interruption. My dad recorded his own, and sometimes a track would run out during a song and switch to the next track, so the player would “click” in the middle of a song. It’s humorous to try to explain it in words here, but if you know what I am trying to explain, you are chuckling!

My dad had quite the collection of his own 8 tracks. We’d listen to them often. My mother asked him to put some songs together for her. He put them on a red 8 track. He may have had other red 8 tracks, however, this one in particular I remember. It contained mom’s songs … mostly ballads.

As a child, we’d go to Caseville for weekend summer vacations. From our house, it was approximately 2-3 hours to drive there. We’d sit in the car bored out of our minds and listen to music. I remember when mom’s 8 track went it, it was like someone gave us a double dose of Benadryl. Oh man, TRY to stay awake with these songs on. The only thing that would keep me awake was listening to my mom mumble through the first 3/4 of the lyric (the part she didn’t know) and belt out the last two words of the line. “mumble, mumble, almost intelligible, mumble, half a word, mumble ….CAUSE I’D REALLY LOVE TO SEE YOU TONIGHT!”

To this day, there are songs that make me think of those rides to the trailer. When they come on, I think “Caseville 8 Track!” I remember driving up 53 through the towns of Romeo, Almont, Imlay City, Marlette, Cass City, Owendale, Pigeon, and finaly arriving at Caseville and listening to them all! Here is a partial list of some of them:

Sad Eyes – Robert John
Babe – Styx
You Needed Me – Anne Murray
Heartlight – Neil Diamond
Just The Way You Are – Billy Joel
Sweet Music Man – Kenny Rogers
You Are So Beautiful – Joe Cocker
You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone
Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue – Crystal Gayle
Your Song – Elton John
If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot
Lyin’ Eyes – The Eagles
Longer – Dan Fogleberg
Blue Bayou – Linda Ronstadt
Annie’s Song – John Denver
Keep On Loving You – REO Speedwagon
I’d Really Love to See You Tonight – England Dan and John Ford Coley
Who’s Crying Now – Journey
Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot
Song Sung Blue – Neil Diamond
Could It Be Magic – Barry Manilow
The Way We Were – Barbara Streisand
Three Times a Lady – The Commodores
All Out of Love – Air Supply
If – Bread

….and those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head! I am sure there are plenty that I am forgetting. I am sure there are probably a few more Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond songs that should be on here, too.

While most of these songs are never going to make my “favorites” play list, they do take me back to a time when I was a young boy driving in our station wagon up to our favorite summer get away. They also remind me of mom. What I wouldn’t give to hear her mumble through some lyrics today.