[gdynia]

Apparently there was a song brought out about the above any reader have an idea of the singer or band.

[Bruce Carson]

The singer/composer was Gordon Lightfoot.
The lyrics may be found here:
http://home.pacbell.net/chabpyne/lyrics.html

Bruce C.

[gdynia]

Originally Posted by Bruce Carson

The singer/composer was Gordon Lightfoot.
The lyrics may be found here:
http://home.pacbell.net/chabpyne/lyrics.html

Bruce C.

Cheers for that Bruce

[Bruce Carson]

The loss of the "Fitz" was by far the most traumatic event in recent Great Lakes history.
When new, she had set records, and was considered one of the finest ships ever built on the Lakes.
There is still controversy concerning the cause of the sinking and it's probable that no definitive answers will ever be forthcoming.
The Boatnerd page has the facts on her last voyage and has links to other sites concerning the ship.
http://www.boatnerd.com/fitz/

Bruce C.
Boatnerd corrects a mistake in the lyrics. The ship was bound for a steel mill in the downriver area of Detroit and not Cleveland.




Bruce C.

[gdynia]

Thanks for that we were on Lake Ontario the day it happened. A tragic loss of life. Saw her several times in the 4 years I spent on the Lakes

[Kasia]

Originally Posted by gdynia

Apparently there was a song brought out about the above any reader have an idea of the singer or band.

It is on Gordon Lightfoots Summertime Dream

[Bruce Carson]

I thought I would add a site showing a few photos of her on the bottom:
http://www.soc.org/opcam/09_fw9697/mg09_undrwtr.html
and another with a midi version of Lightfoot's song:
http://www.corfid.com/gl/wreck.htm

Bruce C.

[janbonde]

I downloaded the trk from winmx a peer to peer site a couple of months ago if you visit www.shipwreckmuseum.com there you can get c/d`s of the Fitz and info galore there is a lot of marine activity here on the Great Lakes and some tragedies which do not seem to reach the deep-sea fraternity forums.We close in the winter time but Quebec is a year round port now

[Pat McCardle]

Originally Posted by gdynia

Apparently there was a song brought out about the above any reader have an idea of the singer or band.

Her loss & history was reconstructed on one of the Sky channels along with the salvaging of the ships bell for Her memorial service.

[Coastie]

I remember listening to a radio station called WKBW from Buffalo during the mid 70's and they played this record just about every other one. The skip was through only for a short time but I must have heard this song about ten times during that period. Have never heard that station since. I bought the record though and it is one of my favourites even though I knew nothing about the Fitz and always thought she was an old sailing vessel. It was a sad occasion and I remember a friend of mine who used to work deep sea saying that he'd met a ships pilot who had been on the Fitz and said that there were two ships in convoy that night, the fitz and another, and the Captain of the other ship reported that one minute the Fitz was there, the other minute she had gone. Her demise was really that quick.

Best wishes.
Coastie

[lakercapt]

There are many opinions as to why it happened but one thing that came out of it was better weather forecasting for the Great Lakes. I can attest that Superior can be a nasty piece of water and spent days at anchor in Whitefish Bay waiting for it to moderate. Especially in the fall when icing is also a major factor. Not any point getting to port if you can't open the hatches that are iced up.

[janbonde]

The other ship was the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON of the United States Steel Corporation's Great Lakes Fleet at the time her master was Capt Cooper the ship is still in service
Captain McSorley of the "FITZ" had indicated he was having difficulty and was taking on water. She was listing to port and had two of three ballast pumps working. She had lost her radar and damage was noted to ballast tank vent pipes and he was overheard on the radio saying, "don't allow nobody (sic) on deck." McSorley said it was the worst storm he had ever seen. All 29 officers and crew, including a Great Lakes Maritime Academy cadet, went down with the ship, which lies broken in two sections in 530 feet of water.

[Coastie]

Aye.

"The Captain wired in, he had water coming in and the good ship and crew were in peril" to quote the song.

Best wishes.

Coastie

[Bruce Carson]

The Anderson is over fifty years old. She is now a self unloader and has a couple of rather ugly uptakes arising from her funnel, but she's still turbine powered.
A few pictures and particulars:
http://www.duluthshippingnews.com/sh...hippic151.html
http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/ama.htm
Duluth Shipping News has online sets of photographs by year of the maritime activity around the harbor. The quality, IMO, is astounding and there is a nice mix of people, US, Canadian and foreign vessels. Scroll down to the pictures by year:
http://www.duluthshippingnews.com/

[DMA]

Scan from 'Edmonton Journal' May 19th

[gdynia]

Dave

Thanks for that

[Paul Liu]

Well, it was today, November 10, a score and eleven years ago that the Fitz lost. I just wish to add a rememberance here. Thanks to all the posts on this thread that are keeping the memory of the Fitz alive!

[gdynia]

Thoughts for the crew who manned her and the families they left behind.

[ed glover]

I have a great painting of the Fitz coming up river under the Ambassador brige in Detriot it hangs in my office. They ring a ships bell once for each member of the crew that died in the old Mariners church in down town Detriot every year.
Ed Glover
Controlled drifting

[shipartist]

Hey Ed, who did the painting? I've done one of her in the storm, and three years later looked at it and realized the 'witch of november' can be seen in the wave pattern at her stern!

[ed glover]

The painting was done by a Danish painter Ben Jenson he lived in Kingsville Ontario untill a few years ago and moved up north of toronto i believe.
ed Glover
Controlled drifting

[ed glover]

The bell at Mariners Church tolled eight times on Sunday not 29. Every year since the sinking they would ring it 29 times, they have reverted back to remembering all of the 6,000 lives lost on the Great lakes. The bell is tolled 5 times for the 5 Great Lakes, a sixth time for St Clair river and Detroit rivers which join them, a seventh time for the St Lawrence sea way and once for military personnel whose lives were lost.
Ed Glover
Controlled drifting

[Coastie]

Originally Posted by ed glover

The bell at Mariners Church tolled eight times on Sunday not 29. Every year since the sinking they would ring it 29 times, they have reverted back to remembering all of the 6,000 lives lost on the Great lakes. The bell is tolled 5 times for the 5 Great Lakes, a sixth time for St Clair river and Detroit rivers which join them, a seventh time for the St Lawrence sea way and once for military personnel whose lives were lost.
Ed Glover
Controlled drifting

I suppose I can understand that. Though the loss of the "Fitz" is indeed a sad event, it is, sadly, not the only ship to have foundered and the crew were not the only ones to have lost their lives, so to be fair to reletives of other disasters, I think the ringing of the bell only 8 times is the right thing to do.

[Locking Splice]

Heard the news about the Fitz on the World Service, we were ploughing through a grey miserable Atlantic outward bound on one of Trinders to sunnier climes. Although we did'nt know the ship or crew, we still shared their grief as all seafarers do and the day seemed even gloomier.
First heard Gordon Lightfoots song in 76 on the then Radio Medway, while anchored of Southend. What a haunting record, managed to get a copy and still listen to it now, its still as powerful today.
Managed to get a book from the States last year "The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Frederick Stonehouse. It was second hand , was'nt cheap but a very good read and in its 21st printing.
Best Regards
Locking Splice