I just finished an excellent book, Safe from the Sea by Geye Peter. While fiction, it gives a lot of astonishing information about the ore ships, the sailors who manned them, the tremendous storms, an ore ship wreck and Lake Superior and the surrounding area.
Very informative and also a wonderful story.
It’s still not clear what caused the wreck, but if it was leaking, it sounds as if it was due to damage that occurred on that voyage, by hitting a shoal, that the crew did not notice - not that it was a chronically leaking vessel.
Lightfoot has commented that the verse where he sings that a hatchcover gave way is pure artistic licence, and in fact he has changed the words about that in live concerts, since it is not clear if the hatchcovers actually failed…
According to this thread I started, the #1 historical event people only remember because of a song is The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Huh, I’ve always assumed that the wreck had happened about 100 years before it actually did.
When the EF sank, shipwrecks had been commonplace for thousands of years. The space shuttle disasters were shocking because they were rare occurrences. It’s interesting to me, though, that while there was a song about the USS Thresher, nobody really remembers that disaster.
I’m usually surprised that people outside MN or the Great Lakes area comment on it, since I’ve always thought it was a regional thing. Much like tomorrow’s anniversary of the Armistice Day Blizzard, which my grandparents spoke of frequently - 154 deaths. 
I grew up on Lake Superior and have a deep rooted respect and awe for the power of her storms. So for me - the fact that a storm on Lake Superior could sink a ship the size and power of the Fitz isn’t any suprise (I remember that specific storm, as well).
But I think for many - the reason it sticks out is that, it just seems impossible that a mere inland lake could sink a modern ship of that size. The ocean? Sure - of course those storms are big enough. But a storm on a lake? No way . . . .
Here’s another trying-not-to-be-rude question - why is the Fitz a big deal this year?
I only ask because I woke up today to three Facebook mentions (one person who grew up in Dearborn and did some geological work in the Great lakes; the others are Ohio history buffs) and now two-merged-as-one SDMB threads about it…but in the past 31 years I’ve been around, I haven’t heard a thing about it.
I also didn’t know it happened in 1975. I’ve actually never heard the song.
It could be some sort of bias on my part in that I’m exposed to more rapid-fire information than any other time in my life. Or, did the wreck become especially important this year?
It’s the 35th anniversary, so as is normal on all 0s and 5s it becomes somehow more significant. Wait till next September 11!
And you’ve never heard the song? How is that even possible?
I **have **heard the great lakes referred to as “inland oceans.”
I caught the Mighty Ships episode on the M/V Paul R. Tregurtha yesterday. At almost 300 ft longer than the Fitz, she in now the largest vessel in the Great Lakes complex. In the episode she passed near where the Fitzgerald now rests.
My dad had a book titled “The Thresher Disaster”, so I was aware of that one. Had Dad not been a navy veteran, though, I doubt I’d have heard of it.
Me too. I was amazed to find out it happened when I was an adult.
So far as I know, though, it was the last Great Lakes sinking to involve such a large loss of life. (I welcome correction if I’m wrong.) If there had been comparable tragedies every few years since, I think the Fitz would be less remembered, despite the song.
The last commercial wreck with loss of life of which I am aware was the Linda-E which went down not far from my home in 1998, taking 3 men with her.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that, yes, I know about this boat and this crew from the song, but remembering this one is something of a way to remember them all. Those people who work out there on that water, work in dangerous conditions. And sometimes those dangerous conditions get the better of them. They’re all part of our history, and they all had someone who missed them when they didn’t come back.
It always amazes me that the Fitz is remembered, yet so few people know of the “Big Blow” of 1913, which killed 250 people in and around the lakes (mostly Huron), sank 12 Lakeboats with all hands (4 of which, 98 years later still haven’t been found), and stranded 30 more.
Good book on the subject: White Hurricane by David Brown. I first read of this disaster in an old book called True Tales of The Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer.
It seems Mr. Lightfoot has changed the words: http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7775182
Another question: Lake Superior is a very deep, very cold lake. Is it possible that the bodies are still down there with the wreck? As I recall, the wreck is in pretty good condition-very little decay, due to the cold water.
The bodies were not recovered, so what’s left of them is down there, but after 35 years, it’s not going to be much. It’s not a freezer.