# Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald and other tragic Great Lakes shipwrecks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964 "2023-11-11T01:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/1 "2023-11-11T01:41:22Z")
I rang our bell on the Lake Michigan shore 29 times tonight, for the Edmund Fitzgerald. (Once for each man lost on Lake Superior in 1975.) I’m sure I saw the Fitz sail past my home here many times during my younger days. My Grandfather and I would sit and watch the ore boats go by in the 1960’s. I did spot the Arthur M. Anderson sailing past here earlier this year. It was the Laker that accompanied the Fitz on that fateful night, reported it missing, and went back into the storm from safe harbor in Whitefish Bay to search for any survivors. Captain Cooper was a brave man. Next time I will ring it on November 18th, for the Carl D. Bradley, where 33 lives were lost on Lake Michigan in 1958 (but two did survive). After that, it will ring again on November 29th, for the 28 men lost on the Daniel J. Morrell on Lake Huron in 1966 (one survivor there). My ancestors were commercial fishermen on Lake Michigan, and a few were lost to storms and accidents so our family has always paid attention to such tragedies on our waters. November is the cruelest month on the Great Lakes. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/2 "2023-11-11T03:05:42Z")
A cruel month, but kindly remembered. Thanks for sharing the memories. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/3 "2023-11-11T13:49:09Z")
I still get a chill when I hear Gordon Lightfoot sing the lines: > _Does anyone know where the love of God goes_ > _When the waves turn the minutes to hours?_ ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/4 "2023-11-11T14:12:43Z")
And it isn’t the only freighter to die out there. Recall the White Hurricane. [VIDEO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuP9Lfbqx3U&ab_channel=StunningHistory) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/5 "2023-11-11T18:58:42Z")
Very true. Over 250 deaths in that 1913 blizzard over water. But I limit the ringing of my bell to those boats lost during my lifetime. I may add in the Phoenix, which burned and sank in 1845 off Sheboygan, with over 200 of my kinfolk dying that night of Nov 21st. But ringing the bell 200+ times would be a bit much. I’ll have to figure a workaround for that one. 29 times set all the local dogs barking as it was. The most recent loss of a commercial boat locally (that I’m aware of) was the [Linda E](https://www.milwaukeemag.com/THESINKINGOFTHELINDA_E/) on December 11th, 1998. 3 commercial fishermen died when apparently they were run down by a barge as they worked cleaning fish belowdeck. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/6 "2023-11-16T18:06:00Z")
Do you think it would still be remembered as much without the Gordon Lightfoot song? ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/7 "2023-11-16T21:33:14Z")
me, too I meant to quote solost, here ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/8 "2023-11-17T13:12:34Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Do you think it would still be remembered as much without the Gordon Lightfoot song? Of course not. That’s pretty much what this type of ballad is for-- they’ve served as a way of memorializing or reminding people of an event as long as ballads have been written; as well as being entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/9 "2023-11-18T00:40:26Z")
Wonderful sound a ships bell is. 🎼 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/10 "2023-11-22T19:37:16Z")
I rang the bell 33 times for the Bradley on the 18th. A number of other observances for her occurred around the Great Lakes too. [When the Bradley was torn and then gone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtZ55IJRM9A) Last night it was for the hundreds lost on the Phoenix in 1847, just a few miles north of me. I lost a few kin in that sinking, siblings and niblings of some of my great great + grandparents. A friend and I rang the bell rapidly for about 45 seconds. [the Phoenix story](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n68bBCer4nU&pp=ygUbcGhvZW5peCBzaGlwd3JlY2sgc2hlYm95Z2Fu) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/11 "2023-11-28T00:05:34Z")
**Qadgop** , that is so wonderful, keeping the memories going. Especially for those family members. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-edmund-fitzgerald-and-other-tragic-great-lakes-shipwrecks/992964/12 "2023-11-28T00:29:18Z")
The loss of HMS _Speedy_ was another Great Lakes wreck, on Lake Ontario. > **[HMS Speedy (1798)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Speedy_(1798))** > > The schooner or gunboat HMS Speedy sank in a snowstorm in Lake Ontario south of the future site of Brighton, Ontario, and west of Prince Edward County, on 8 October 1804, with the loss of all hands. The sinking changed the course of Canadian history because of the prominence of the citizens of the tiny colony of Upper Canada lost in the disastrous event. > The ship was built for the Provincial Marine in 1798 at the Point Frederick Navy Depot and was used to transport government officials and su... > [@](#): > > _Speedy_ stopped briefly at [Port Oshawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshawa,_Ontario) to pick up the Farewell brothers who were business partners of the murder victim and key witnesses for the prosecution, and a handful of Natives who were also to provide testimony. The Farewell brothers refused to board the ship, expressing concern that it was already overloaded, crowded, and unsafe. They elected to accompany _Speedy_ in a [canoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe). > > _Speedy_ and the canoe were separated as the storm deteriorated into [blizzard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard) conditions during the afternoon and evening of 8 October. The wind had turned and was blowing out of the northeast. By the morning of 9 October, the brothers managed to reach Newcastle’s harbour. Not so for _Speedy_. The schooner was sighted passing Presqu’ile Point at dusk on 8 October. The crew fired one of her cannons to signal her situation and position. In response; shoreline bonfires were lit, ostensibly to guide her to safety.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Speedy_(1798)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEButts20107-1) > > The schooner vanished on approach to the mouth of the bay (Presqu’ile Bay). All that was found of the ship, her passengers, cargo, and six-man crew were a chicken coop and compass box. These washed up on the beach opposite the bay.