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November 10, 2025, will mark 50 years since the sinking of the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior, so I wanted to stake out this Saturday for Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. What put this in my mind was the recent Detroit Ricochet Meetup, and @katiekoppelman's suggestion that we attend Mass at the Mariners' Church of Detroit, as this was the church mentioned in the song. Katie also pointed out that this is the 50th anniversary of the sinking.
Rolling Stone magazine has a recent article about Gordon Lightfoot writing the song in the weeks after reading news accounts of the tragedy. It seems Lightfoot was extremely hesitant about the song. While he felt compelled to record it, he was also worried that people would think he was trying to cash in on someone else's misfortune. And some people did. It came as a surprise to Lightfoot and others when the song became a big hit, as it lacks some of the usual elements that make for hit songs.
I remember as a kid when this song would come on the radio, and people would stop talking to listen to it. It's still a captivating song today.
Discussion (13)
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I was in college at the University of Michigan when Edmund Fitzgerald sank, majoring in naval architecture. At the time it was believed it had suffered structural failure and sank due to that. This shook our professors because Edmund Fitzgerald was "overbuilt." Its hull was heavier and stronger than needed for Lakes conditions (and hence more expensive to build and operate). Ships built after it had lighter scantlings.
In reality, it remained intact until it hit the lake floor. The hatches had been improperly sealed, allowing water to seep into the hold forward. Because it was carrying taconite with relatively poor permeability, the water settled in the forward hold, pulling the bow down. The only bilge pump was at the aft end of the cargo hold, where the water wasn't. Over time more and more water accumulated forward, pulling the bow lower and lower. Eventually a big wave swamped the bow. At that point the boat emulated a submarine and headed for the bottom.
Had the captain not been driving the Big Fitz as fast as he was going less water would have been breaking over the bows (and from there into the hold. It would have made port safely.
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I’ve said this several times on Ricochet; for those that have been to sea in a small craft when the ocean turns angry, really really angry, the following line from the song has special meaning:
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours”
I love the song and yes, I normally stop what I’m doing to listen to it. But every now and then I get overtaken by a sense of fear and foreboding when I listen to it. To this day I can’t look at movies or tv clips of really really heavy seas without getting a sense of anxiety.
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Same. I was on a camping trip recently. It was very far north in Wisconsin, the neighbors were all very quiet, a fair amount of breeze in the trees and that song kept getting in my head. It was a beautiful night, but it was still pretty spooky all-in-all.
"Superior sings/in the rooms of her ice-water mansion" is the lyric that always sticks with me, too.
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I think it is The Mariner's Church in Detroit that each Nov 10th, rings its bell once for each lost seaman.
After Lightfoot died, they began to add an extra ring to commemorate him..
For me it is such a hauntingly beautiful and troubling song. Lightfoot out did himself on this one.
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One of the best "story" songs of all time. Great pick, Randy.
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