On this very day, in the year I was born, came the wreck of the ore carrier ship, Edmund Fitzgerald. It was on November 10th, 1975 that a gale hit pulling the good ship and all twenty-nine souls on board to rest on the bottom of frigid Lake Superior. If you are not familiar with the song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot, search it up on YouTube or your Spotify. Close your eyes and give this remarkable and haunting song a listen before you read on.

We did not know it at the time, but we sailed almost directly over the wreck this past summer on August 18^th.

Like the Fitzgerald, we were heading down from Michipicoten Island to Whitefish Bay. Completing our journey across Lake Superior, our destination that day was Batchawana Harbour.

Myself, my husband and our eleven year old son currently live on our thirty-eight foot, C&C Landfall sailboat, Starship1. We had just begun our three-year voyage that began on the Great Lakes and will eventually take us on two planned ocean crossings. The day we realized we had unknowingly sailed almost directly over the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck felt surreal. They were headed for a steel foundry near Detroit, Michigan. Like us, they must’ve been making their way to eventually go through the locks in Sault Ste. Marie.

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

When the skies of November turn gloomy

We knew Lake Superior was a lake to take very seriously. The incredible depths meant the water temperatures were dangerously cold so we planned our crossing for the summer. We also knew that every November, Lake Superior would turn up it’s true power to create fearful winds and mountainous waves.

The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay

If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her

Fifteen more nautical miles…it is heartbreaking to know how very close they were to safety. We have done many long passages and now feel that when we are about fifteen miles from our destination we are pretty much already ‘there’. The day we traveled the same path as them was a sixteen hour sail day for us and I remember it was very cold.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait

When the gales of November came slashin’

When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain

In the face of a hurricane west wind

Our oldest son, Alexander, is graduating soon as a Marine Engineer Officer with the Canadian Coast Guard. He chose a career that will take him out onto difficult waters to help others when all other vessels turn their bows to safe harbours. My heart does not let me think too much about him being in a tragedy like the men on the Fitzgerald but tucked in the far back of my mind, I do know it is possible.

And later that night when the ship’s bell rang

Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound

And a wave broke over the railing

And every man knew, as the captain did too

T’was the witch of November come stealin’

For us there was no moon, it was a very dark night. I was cold and anxious about arriving in the dark to Whitefish Bay. I remember it being a challenging night for me but no where near what those twenty-nine men went through on their approach into the very same bay. I imagine the crew on the Fitzgerald having their feelings of hunger, cold and fear fight for first place over each other. I am sure fear won out the moment they lost power and the ship went dark as they began to realize their fate.

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’

“Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya”

At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said

“Fellas, it’s been good to know ya”

There must’ve come a moment where they knew they were not going to make it but the human spirit has the incredible power to grip onto hope for as long as possible. I imagine at some point their final thoughts turned to pulling up images in their minds of their loved ones as they internally searched desperately for comfort. I hope for many, peace was found before the icy cold water wrapped around them. Their final radio transmission was with the freighter Arthur M. Anderson right before they disappeared from radar near the entrance to Whitefish Bay.

Does any one know where the love of God goes

When the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Those two lines in the song always gives me chills. I pray to never be in conditions they had but we have sailed in storms and gales where we have to dig deep into our abilities and resilience in order to stay safe. We too have had times where the waves have turned the minutes to hours where I have been wet, cold and scared for long periods of time. It’s those times where the crew goes quiet as all thoughts turn to obsessively thinking only about arriving at our safe harbour. Lake Superior just did not give the Fitzgerald the mercy of reaching their safe harbour that night. For us we arrived safely as our clocks showed us 1:00 AM. For them that didn’t happen. At the end of our long passage we had the reward of warmth and refuge that the crew of the Fitzgerald never got to experience.

And all that remains is the faces and the names

Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

An intensive search was underway immediately but no bodies were ever recovered. The day Lake Superior pulled the Fitzgerald down, it only let go of a few lifeboats and twenty-one life jackets in return. Divers brought up the good ship’s bronze bell on July 4, 1995. Since then, the site is now illegal to dive out of respect for the families who were left to mourn their loved ones.  

Canadian singer, Gordon Lightfoot immortalized those brave men with this powerful song but that should not take away from the many others who met the same fate on the Great Lakes. It is estimated that the Great Lakes have taken down 6,000 ships and claimed 30,000 souls. I feel this song is a tribute to them all.

Living on the water, we never lose respect for the incredible forces of nature. Knowing of tragedies like the Edmund Fitzgerald is a reminder to us to do our best to minimize risks and error on the side of caution as much as possible as my husband, son and I continue on our journey of a lifetime.