# Remembering the Fitz - 39 Years Ago Tonight

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-fitz-39-years-ago-tonight/704310>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 11, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-fitz-39-years-ago-tonight/704310 "2014-11-11T04:55:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-fitz-39-years-ago-tonight/704310/1 "2014-11-11T04:55:36Z")

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_The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down  
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee  
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead  
When the skies of November turn gloomy_  
[ul]  
[li] [The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw%5B/li%5D%5Bli%5D) [http://www.ssefo.com/[/li][/ul]](http://www.ssefo.com/%5B/li%5D%5B/ul%5D)

The National Weather Service [tweeted in real time tonight](https://twitter.com/NWSMarquette) as if Twitter had existed then.

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**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-fitz-39-years-ago-tonight/704310/2 "2014-11-11T05:42:28Z")

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I was a child when we moved away from the Great Lakes area so I had no idea how dangerous those lakes could be until this happened. I remember hearing about it from the song since we had moved away by then.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-fitz-39-years-ago-tonight/704310/3 "2014-11-11T08:04:47Z")

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I grew up knowing how dangerous the Great Lakes could be, my Grandfather had a sailboat and pleasure sailed [and fished] through all of the Great Lakes from the early 1920s until he died in the mid 1970s. I crewed on his and other boats off and on for years growing up. He could point out where boats and ships sank in various storms.

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**Author:** ![Mind\_Your\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Mind\_Your\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mind_Your_Head)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remembering-the-fitz-39-years-ago-tonight/704310/4 "2014-11-11T09:49:44Z")

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My first father-in-law was a chief engineer on freighters on the Great Lakes for many years. Prior to that he sailed the world with the British Merchant Marine. He always said the storms could be more treacherous at times on the lakes since they seemed to come up out of nowhere with little or no warning. I had the privilege of travelling with him few times through the locks on the Welland Canal which was an amazing experience.