Last year I visited Duluth, MN and saw artifacts from the Edmund Fitzgerald at their museum and spoke to many people who remembered the whole event. Very moving. What a disaster that was.
I just checked my copy form Gord’s Gold Vol II, it is in the second verse:
The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang,
could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
I found that display fascinating!
There are a couple of amazing museums there in Duluth, the Army Corps of Engineers (?) museum about the great lakes and also the aquarium which is dedicated to Great Lakes and fresh water aquatic life. Its very fascinating and I have been there several times now, and each time learned something new. Definitely reccomended for anyone with an interest in the subject.
Duluth has done a lot in the last 10 or so years with the waterfront/ Canal Park area. I just wish Thunder Bay would grab a clue and do something similar.
Hiya Shirley!
Whitefish Point is great - both for the museum and birdwatching if you’re into such things. The falls are nice, too, but stay away from the brewpub, it may be the absolutely worst brewpub beer I’ve ever had in my life.
Paradise is… well, not really Paradise IMO. But I suspect that it might be nicer to those people who don’t already live in a small town in da UP.
Except of course, it wasn’t going to Cleveland. If you get a copy of “I Hate Myself and Want to Die- the 52 Worst Songs of All Time” it gets a working over. In saying that I have Gords Gold as well.
Nor was it a “north wind”.
The Fitzgerald storm was coming from the southwest. It had passed through the NW corner of Texas, Oklahoma & Kansas the previous morning on its way to the Great Lakes.
Northerly winds were most definitely worth nothing and likely the killer, as the fetch was over a long run of water, allowing for bigger waves sans land protection. This shift to N/NW is a major factor.
Contains National Weather Service wind info for the storm.
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/fitz.html
Anyone up North, or in the Northeast, dealing with low-pressure systems that develop in the south, are all too familiar with the danger of the northerly winds. It is these winds that bring disaster.
(Philster: Coastal NJ resident who fears Northerly winds, esp Nor’ Easters, which develop in the South.)