Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Midwest Region

On November 9,1975 the Edmond Fitzgerald left the port of Superior, Wisconsin with a cargo of 26,116 tons of taconite pellets. A violent storm arose on Lake Superior. The ship sank seventeen miles from Whitefish Point , Michigan on November 10, 1975 . This ballad written by Gordon Lightfoot is a tribute to the ship and her crew.

Lyrics:

1. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
     Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
     The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
     When the skies of November turn gloomy.

2. With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
     Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
     That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
     When the gales of November came early

3. 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 the Captain well seasoned.

4. Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
    When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
    And later that night when the ships bell rang
    Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

5. The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
     And a wave broke over the railing
     And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
     T'was the witch of November come stealing.

6. The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
     When the gales of November came slashing
     When afternoon came it was freezing rain
     In the face of a hurricane West Wind

7. When supper time came the old cook came on deck
    Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
    At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
    He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

8. The Captain wired in he had water coming in
     And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
     Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

9. Does anyone know where the love of God goes
     When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
     If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

10.They might have split up or they might have capsized
     They may have broke deep and took water
     And all that remains is the faces and the names
     Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

11. Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
     In the ruins of her ice water mansion
     Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
     The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

12.And farther below Lake Ontario
     Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
     And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
     With the gales of November remembered.

13.In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
     In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
     The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
     For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

14.The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
     Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
     Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
     When the gales of November come early.


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Created by: Judy Meyer Hays and Sharon Ogorzalek
Created: July 2005, Last Updated: 12/09/07
School District 54, Schaumburg, Illinois
http://web54.sd54.k12.il.us/schools/armstrong/USregions/WreckEdmundFitzgerald.htm