"I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom. I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients."
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Showing posts with label Edmund Fitzgerald. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edmund Fitzgerald. Show all posts
I read this morning, that in the late 1960s, Peter "The Commodore" Pulcera, then captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald, enjoyed playing Mozart marches over the ship's loudspeakers as she traversed the Great Lakes.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking and loss of all hands aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald. Kirkus reviews John U. Bacon's latest, The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
He opens with an overview of the Great Lakes, whose waves and currents turn out to be as nasty as those in salt water. Between 1875 and 1975, they claimed at least 6,000 ships and 30,000 sailors—averaging one shipwreck a week. As Bacon writes in arresting prose, “These freighters battled waves twenty feet or more, faced eighty-mile-per-hour winds, and crashed into lighthouses, ports, piers, bridges, shoals, jagged shores, and each other. They faced fires and explosions onboard, hundreds of tons of ice weighing their ships down, water flooding into their pilothouses and cargo holds, and fog, the one element that could make even the most seasoned mariner stop in his tracks, praying for luck.”
Narrowing his focus, Bacon describes the mines of Minnesota and Wisconsin that required massive carriers to transport their ore south to refineries in Chicago and Buffalo and points in between. The carriers were designed primarily for profit (carrying the maximum load) and to pass through narrow locks leading from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. Designers paid less attention to their ability to handle the Great Lakes on bad days. Since no crewman survived, details of the disaster are spotty, but Bacon makes the most of them, delivering biographies of crewmen, their duties, descriptions of the storm, increasingly fraught messages from the Fitzgerald before they ceased, interviews with victims’ families, and a discussion of the lessons learned. The author makes the Fitzgerald the centerpiece of a broad account of Great Lakes shipping, the careers and daily lives of the crews—and the industries, cities, and bars that feed them—and tales of other sinkings.
The book will be released Tuesday, October 7.
Bacon discusses the book with Dave LewAllen ..
On November 4, Bacon will speak at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.
This morning the lake freighter SS Arthur M. Anderson, the last ship to be in contact with SS Edmund Fitzgerald before she sank on November 10, 1975, came into Duluth, Big Fitz' last port-of-call ...
The Anderson has been working on the Great Lakes since 1952.
At this hour, on this day in 1975, the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm on Lake Superior. All 29 hands were lost.
The storm that brought the ship down contained sustained winds of nearly 70 miles per hour, producing waves over 25 feet.
There are many theories about what caused her loss. Mine is that, taking on water, she sat dangerously low in the water, and buried her nose in the trough of a 25 footer, disappearing quickly in 500 feet of Superior, her mighty engines driving her down. She's in two pieces at the bottom.
This is the last known photograph of the ship, taken two weeks before her sinking.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum remembers the Fitzgerald ...
Then the Anderson just raised up and shook herself off of all that water - barrooff - just like a big dog. Another wave just like the first one or bigger hit us again. I watched those two waves head down the lake towards the Fitzgerald, and I think those were the two that sent him under.
On this day, at this hour in 1975, the Great Lakes ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all 29 hands.
An interview with Capt. Bernie Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson conducted by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society before he passed in 1993. The Anderson was 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald in the teeth of Lake Superior during that fateful night of November 10th, 1975 when all 29 men went down. Captain Cooper provides first hand account of what it was like that night and theorizes on what may have happened to the Fitz ...
There’s one story Hom has carried with him throughout his life and never told the author who once interrogated him about McSorley. Hom bristled at the author’s approach and didn’t want to share “the biggest bit of insight I’ve got on McSorley,” he said.
Hom told of working alongside the captain on the Armco when they passed the Fitzgerald going the other way on Lake Superior.
“McSorley looked over and said, ‘Boy, I’d hate to be on there in a big storm,’” Hom recalled. “‘They got it all worn out from years of overloading it.’ He said that five years before it sunk. He knew it was all wore out.”
On this day, at this hour in 1975, the Great Lakes ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all 29 hands.
An interview with Capt. Bernie Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson conducted by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society before he passed in 1993. The Anderson was 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald in the teeth of Lake Superior during that fateful night of November 10th, 1975 when all 29 men went down. Captain Cooper provides first hand account of what it was like that night and theorizes on what may have happened to the Fitz ...
Steve Ackerman, Professor, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies, UW-Madison, analyzes the weather, the storm movement and decisions made by the captains piloting ships on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, the day the Edmund Fitzgerald sank.
All historical references to “porter” seem to go back to 1722 and one Ralph Harwood, a London brewer. Harwood created a beer that was originally called “Entire.” Entire previously had referred to a blend of three separate beers, consisting of one third each beer, ale, and strong beer. This blend was also known as “Three Threads,” probably vernacular for “three thirds.” Prior to Harwood, Entire was mixed in the bar at the point of service.
Entire quickly became popular as the workingman’s pint of choice, and as several historians seem to think, became known as “porter” because it was a particular favorite of the porters who labored at the local markets and also delivered the product to the pubs.
On this day, at this hour in 1975, the Great Lakes ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all 29 hands.
An interview with Capt. Bernie Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson conducted by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society before he passed in 1993. The Anderson was 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald in the teeth of Lake Superior during that fateful night of November 10th, 1975 when all 29 men went down. Captain Cooper provides first hand account of what it was like that night and theorizes on what may have happened to the Fitz ...
The Lake Carrier's Association and the Detroit Historical Society's presentation of the documentary The Long Ships Passing, from 1959. Footage of the then two-year old Edmund Fitzgerald taking on mail can be seen at 14:47 ...
Citing Mighty Fitz by Michael Schumacher, The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Michael Schumacher, the NTSB Report, and the USCG Marine Casualty Report on its sinking, this documentary on the Edmund Fitzgerald is the best since the Discovery Channel's in 1995.
Don't miss the footage of the Roger Blough at 16:23 ...
There’s one story Hom has carried with him throughout his life and never told the author who once interrogated him about McSorley. Hom bristled at the author’s approach and didn’t want to share “the biggest bit of insight I’ve got on McSorley,” he said.
Hom told of working alongside the captain on the Armco when they passed the Fitzgerald going the other way on Lake Superior.
“McSorley looked over and said, ‘Boy, I’d hate to be on there in a big storm,’” Hom recalled. “‘They got it all worn out from years of overloading it.’ He said that five years before it sunk. He knew it was all wore out.”
Split Rock Lighthouse's Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Beacon Lighting ...
This annual event commemorates the sinking of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald and the loss of her 29 crew members on November 10, 1975. It is also a time to reflect on the memory of all lives lost in Great Lakes shipwrecks.
The lighthouse, fog signal building, and visitor center will be open. Costumed interpreters will greet visitors and provide historic site and shipwreck information. Throughout the afternoon, visitors can view a film about the Edmund Fitzgerald in the visitor center.
At 4:30 pm, the lighthouse will close temporarily while the names of the crew members are read to the tolling of a ship's bell. Following the ceremony, the beacon will be lit, and the tower will be open again to tour.
Be sure to bring a flashlight or headlamp as the grounds and trails are unlit. The weather is unpredictable, please dress accordingly.
A portion of the beacon lighting will be streamed live on YouTube.
The Arthur M. Anderson gave a Master Salute in memory of the Edmund Fitzgerald last night as it arrived in Duluth during a snowstorm.
The Anderson was following the Edmund Fitzgerald 45 years ago during a blinding snowstorm and was the last boat to make contact with the Fitz before it sank with all 29 crew ...
On this day and at this hour in 1975, the Great Lakes ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all 29 hands. thinglink has an timeline map. Historian Ric Mixter discusses the Edmund Fitzgerald investigations in a 2018 lecture ...
WNEM has a explanation of the weather systems that tormented Big Fitz ... HERE.
An interview with Capt. Bernie Cooper of the Arthur M. Anderson conducted by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society before he passed in 1993. The Anderson was 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald in the teeth of Lake Superior during that fateful night of November 10th, 1975 when all 29 men went down. Hear a first hand account of what it was like that night and Capt. Coopers theorizes on what may have happened to the Fitz ...
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