On November 10, 1975, the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a severe storm on Lake Superior, with loss of all aboard. The sinking was marked by Gordon Lightfoot in his song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” inspiring this tribute

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitchee Gumee.
The lake it is said never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.
The Fitz was the pride of the American side
Seven thirty long, seventy-five wide.
Captain Sorley and crew were old sailors and true
Knew the beauty and peril of lake blue.

She loaded thousands of tons of taconite ore
The glass fell as she left Wisconsin’s shore.
A northern course avoided the gale at center
Waves thirty feet, a freak storm was sent her.
A south course at lake’s end brought the west wind’s full force
The captain radioed, rolling is worse.
At Six Fathom Shoal she steered too close to like
Captain Cooper astern thought she would strike.

Lost a rail, taking water and listing was heard
That dark news became the last word.
Whitefish Bay at fifteen miles safety did herald
Instead did wreck the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Detroit’s Mariner’s Church bell rang twenty-nine times,
For the good men’s lives lost in the waters
Now all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Superior feeds Huron and Michigan,
Ontario takes what Erie sends her.
The iron ships still go as the mariners know
The gales of November are remembered.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitchee Gumee.
Superior they said never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

Voyage details are from John U. Bacon, The Gales of November. With all respect to the late Gordon Lightfoot, and the wives, sons and daughters.

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