# Why is the Edmund Fitzgerald so remembered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208 "2010-11-19T09:23:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/1 "2010-11-19T09:23:34Z")
Someone makes a thread each year of the anniversary. I was 1 year old when it sank. At the time, was it a national news event? Or is it’s fame due more to the Gordon Lightfoot song? Why did a freighter that lost 29 people become so well known and remembered? ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/2 "2010-11-19T09:42:05Z")
I meant to post this in IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/3 "2010-11-19T09:58:55Z")
Because of the song, I think. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/4 "2010-11-19T11:28:23Z")
Because of the song. Just like more people remember the “Andrea Gail” sinking because of the book “Perfect Storm.” ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/5 "2010-11-19T12:50:23Z")
Because it celebrates [drunken anal sex](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=edmund+fitzgerald). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/6 "2010-11-19T13:18:42Z")
If not for the song, I wouldn’t know about it. The song has all the ingredients of a Greek myth or a Norse one. The elements are so heroic in scale and significance. It rivals _the Titanic_ for hubris and _The Perfect Storm_ for the power of nature. Lightfoot’s musical prowess and poetry are enough to make it memorable even if it were fictitious. Chilling and memorable story. Like The Alamo. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/7 "2010-11-20T13:26:18Z")
I prefer to remember the events of the song “Convoy” every June 6. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/8 "2010-11-20T13:55:11Z")
It’s also a [beer.](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/73/226) ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/9 "2010-11-20T14:40:34Z")
Because of the mystery of the event. It just ceased to be. I know the true story, and which mothership was involved. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/10 "2010-11-20T14:46:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > It’s also a [beer.](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/73/226) I am so going to hell for this. Does it go down easy? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/11 "2010-11-20T14:57:49Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I am so going to hell for this. Does it go down easy? You can drink it like a fish. Errr or _with_ a fish if you’re so inclined. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/12 "2010-11-20T17:54:51Z")
Probably too that there were no survivors, and the fact that no one knows exactly what happened. There was no distress sent, and no bodies have been found at the wreck site. [Final voyage and wreck.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Fitzgerald#Final_voyage_and_wreck) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-edmund-fitzgerald-so-remembered/561208/13 "2010-11-21T00:09:38Z")
I think if it weren’t for the song, the [Maritime Sailor’s Cathedral](http://marinerschurchofdetroit.org/) (in real life, the Mariner’s Church) would have closed years ago.