jimkrauzlis
11-10-2011, 11:46 AM
On today's date in 1975 the Great Lakes cargo ship Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with a loss of all 29 hands. It was one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes, carrying over 26,000 tons of taconite ore between Duluth/Superior and the steel mills to the south. The "Fitz" had departed on November 9 in tandem with another laker, but sailed directly into an early winter storm. It sank suddenly, without making a distress call, at about 7:30 p.m., in heavy snow with winds gusting to hurricane force and seas exceeding 30 feet in height.
Seems like only yesterday my room mate at Kings Point told me the terrible news, and the heart renching news that he had a relative aboard who was lost, no signs of survivors. It reminds us of the exterme peril mariners accept as a livelihood without hesitation, and how those perils exist beyond the cold and vast oceans of the world when ever and where ever severe weather befalls those unfortunate souls who form the life line of commerce...rest in peace, Mates, and may you all enjoy an eternity of calm seas and following winds, Amen....
Seems like only yesterday my room mate at Kings Point told me the terrible news, and the heart renching news that he had a relative aboard who was lost, no signs of survivors. It reminds us of the exterme peril mariners accept as a livelihood without hesitation, and how those perils exist beyond the cold and vast oceans of the world when ever and where ever severe weather befalls those unfortunate souls who form the life line of commerce...rest in peace, Mates, and may you all enjoy an eternity of calm seas and following winds, Amen....