When the "Gales of November" come early.....

LAKE SUPERIOR FACTS

· The GREATEST of the Great Lakes, Superior contains 10% of all the fresh water on the planet Earth.

· It covers 82,000 square kilometers or 31,700 square miles.

· The average depth is 147 meters or 483 feet.

· There have been about 350 shipwrecks recorded in Lake Superior.

· Lake Superior is, by surface area, the largest lake in the world.

. A Jesuit priest in 1668 named it Lac Tracy but that name was never officially adopted.

· It contains as much water as all the other Great Lakes combined,
plus three extra Lake Eries.

· There is a small outflow from the lake at the St. Marys River (Sault Ste Marie) where it flows into Lake Huron, but it takes almost two centuries for the water to be completely replaced. The Sault (Soo) Locks are the world's busiest - carrying more tonnage annually than the Panama and Suez Canals combined.

· There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North
and South America with water a foot deep.

· Lake Superior was formed during the last glacial retreat, making it
one of the earth's youngest major features at only about 10,000 years old.

· The deepest point in the lake is 405 meters or 1,333 feet.

· There are 78 different species of fish that call the big lake home.

· The maximum wave ever recorded on Lake Superior was 9.45 meters
or 31 feet high.

· If you stretched the shoreline of Lake Superior out to a straight line,
it would be long enough to reach from Duluth to the Bahamas.

· Over 300 streams and rivers empty into Lake Superior with the largest source being the Nipigon River.

· The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is about 8 meters
or 27 feet, making it the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes. Underwater visibility in some spots reaches 30 meters.

· In the summer, the sun sets more than 35 minutes later on the western shore of Lake Superior than at its southeastern edge.

· Some of the world's oldest rocks, formed around 2.7 billion years ago,
can be found on the Ontario shore of Lake Superior and also on the other side, near Marquette, Michigan.

· It very rarely freezes over completely, and then usually just for a few hours. Complete freezing has occurred in 1962, 1979, 2003 and 2009.

The song and the story give me the chills too. DH and I used to backpack on Islr Royale and in the middle of Lake Superior on the ferry, it was unbelievable to think we were on a lake rather than a sea. I love it up there.
A little off topic but about Superior and Isle Royale: Anyone ever read, A Superior Death by Nevada Barr? It's a good murder mystery set on Isle Royale.

Taken from a tale told to Dan La Framboise, who is the owner/moderator of the Yahoo group; yooperguide. A more complete retelling of the story can also be found in the book:
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas by Jerry Dennis.


Duel With Superior by Dan La Framboise

When the gales of November came slashing, the Edmund
Fitzgerald, was not the one caught in the middle of it.

Although 31 years have passed since the Edmund
Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior, there is still
an untold story about that terrible storm. It is a
story of fear, near- death, horror and heroism.

Our true story involves six Native Americans who were
tending their commercial fishing nets on that fateful
day, about 20 miles from where the Fitzgerald and its
crew were lost. That day in Whitefish Bay, Nov. 10,
1975, began pleasant enough, but let's let our hero
tell his own story.

The man is John Lufkins, 53, administrator for the Bay
Mills Indian Tribe at Brimley. He doesn't like to talk
about it much because the horror of it all still
remains. As a favor to me, John granted an interview
at his office, and told the story this way:

"I was 32 years old then and doing some commercial
fishing with Pat Kinney, who was a young man of 18.
The day began as a typical November morning, crisp and
clear. The Lake was relatively calm, a good day to
launch the boat and tend our nets out in Whitefish Bay
near Tahquamenon Island, a tiny piece of land a few
miles northwest of Brimley.

"We got out there and began lifting a net when, all of
a sudden, the lake began to boil and churn enormously.
It was like nothing I'd seen before. I told Pat to
drop the net without even resetting it. We quickly
headed to the island where we knew there were a couple
of old abandoned shacks. Our plan was to wait it out.
Wet, we waited and waited and waited. We played
cribbage and made coffee in the shack but the storm
only worsened.

"Suddenly, we were amazed to have the shack door open
and in walked Billy Cameron, soaked and nearly frozen
to death. We were shocked. We didn't know anyone else
was out there fishing. Billy told us his boat had
capsized in the storm and that his fishing partner,
Andrew LeBlanc, was still out there.

"We ran to the shore. Sure enough, there was Andrew
floating toward shore and hanging on to a gasoline
can. We quickly grabbed him and got him inside. Both
men stripped down and warmed up.

"I asked Andrew and Billy if there were any other
fishermen out there. they said 'no' and I believed the
others had made it safely back to the shore west of
Brimley. But, just to be sure, I decided to take
another walk around the island. The waves were sohigh
by now that you couldn't see much. I got back to the
shack and, just as I started inside, a monstrous blast
of wind tore the tarpaper off the shack. I grabbed the
door and hung on. I feared the shack would be blown
away. As I tried to shut the door, I looked out and
saw someone out there. We had no idea who it was.

"Billy and Andrew were exhausted. Pat and I knew it
would be pure suicide to go back out there in the
16-foot boat.

"I told Pat to stay because he was young with a lot of
life ahead of him, and I don't know yet today what
made me do it. My body was in it but my mind was kind
of numb. I got a life jacket and got into the boat. I
started to the area where I thought I had seen the
person. A short distance out I realized I was about to
sink in that small boat and that I had forgotten to
put the drain plug in. I returned to shore, put in the
plug and started out again. By now, I had no idea
where to find anyone in that awful, boiling sea. I was
blown around several times, losing total control of
the boat. It was simple enough at those moments - l
knew I would die. There was no chance.

"Suddenly, there in front of me were two men
frantically hanging onto a capsized boat. There they
were - my uncle, Francis Parish, and his son,
Christopher. At that time, Francis was near 56 and
Chris was in his early 20s.

"By then, they had been in the water two or three
hours. They were nearly unconscious. They had little
strength or awareness. I yelled to them that I would
bring the boat between them and that one should grab
each side so as not to capsize my boat. But when I got
there they were too exhausted to do anything. So I
told them to hang on and I'd try another approach. I
came at the boat from the other side, revved the
engine and ran forward in my boat. I grabbed Chris
and, somehow, I threw him into the boat. He collapsed
there and I ran back to the motor. By then, the boat
with my uncle had again disappeared.

"Soon, however, I found the boat again and ran up to
it and asked Chris to pull his dad aboard. But he had
no strength left. So I made the same move as before
and ran to the front of the boat. Somehow-l'll never
know how-I grabbed him with my left hand and pulled
him aboard. He was like a rag doll and just fell into
the bottom of the boat, his legs in the air.

"I got the motor started and tried to figure a
direction to the island. In that black, awful sea, I
could see nothing. Chris asked me if we were going to
die. I tried to comfort him by saying I hadn't come
out there with plans to die, but the real truth is
that I thought we were goners. The waves were 20 feet
high, and finding the island was like finding a needle
in a haystack.

"Suddenly, there it was. I headed for the lee side of
the island and was nearly there when a wave threw the
boat into a rock and sheared a pin in our motor. But
we were close enough for Pat to throw us a line and we
made it in. All I remember about that moment was the
feeling as my feet hit that shore. My knees began to
shake and my body wobbled and I collapsed right there.

"We cooked some fish to survive. We figured somebody
would come after us. Nobody came. We tried to sleep.
We thought we heard a helicopter in the night and ran
out but we had no way to signal. Next morning, about 7
a.m., we figured we'd try to make it back to the
mainland. We had a little radio with an almost-dead
battery. We caught a newscast about the Fitzgerald
sinking with 29 men aboard and we knew nobody was
looking for us. We were all reluctant to get back into
that 16-foot boat, but we thought we had a good chance
to make it. About halfway in, bigger boats came out
looking for us and we all made it home later that
morning," he said.

Lufkins said he finds it hard to talk about the
episode today. "Some have suggested it was a guardian
angel who took over my body that day, and maybe so.
All I know is I don't believe I did it and I don't
know how I could ever have picked up two 200-pound men
who were lifeless and soaked in all their gear I don't
like it when they say I'm a hero because there comes a
time when a decision has to be made in war or other
emergencies and some can do it and some can't. But it
happens and later on you can't figure out why you did
it. I don't deny the guardian angel theory. All I know
for sure is that I couldn't have lived with myself if
I hadn't tried to save those guys," he said.

"Another thing special to me is that my cousin, Chris,
went on to get married and now has three children.
None of that would have happened if I had not looked
out that old shack's door," he said.
Chris recalls that he and his dad had just started
pulling their nets when he looked westward toward
Paradise. "There it was, a giant wall of water coming
at us. It looked as if the gods had brought it right
up from the bottom. I yelled to dad and tossed him a
life preserver. As I struggled to get the motor
started, dad cut the nets and threw them overboard. He
got his life preserver on but I only had one arm in
when it hit.

"The first wave went over the bow and the second one
went right over the stern and she capsized. We had
only the edge of the upside-down boat to hang on to.
We were sure we'd die. Dad said we would probably die,
but all we could do was hang on as long as we could.
Several times we were washed away from the boat and
had to surface to find it again. I finally got dad on
top of the boat and tied him there with a bow line. He
was in and out of consciousness. We lasted out there
several hours, and it was a miracle that we lived.

"John took a hell of a chance and I had mixed feelings
about it. I was greatly relieved to see him coming,
but I feared I might have sentenced him to a watery
grave. But, he never hesitated and he had no idea it
was his uncle and cousin out there," Chris said.

His father, Francis, now 69, says there is much about
it he does not remember. "Your mind goes dead at those
times. I remember many times being washed away from
that boat and finding my way back. Chris asked me if
we would die and I said yes. I felt sure we would. It
might have been a painless kind of death because I
felt little at that time," he said.

Ironically, Billy Cameron drowned five years ago while
fishing commercial nets near Cross Village. Andrew
LeBlanc is employed by the Bay Mills Tribe operations
department. Chris Parish is a Michigan Corrections
Department lieutenant in charge of a shift at Kinross
prison, and Pat Kinney is still commercial fishing.
Kinney, LeBlanc, and Francis Parish are Cloverland
Electric Cooperative members.

All of the men say, 31 years later, that they have to
force themselves to enter a boat and do battle with
the big lake.

Dan
pipewrench70

At that time, I lived on an island, just east of Sault Ste. Marie. One of my two big barns folded up in the storm that night.
Those hatch covers are huge. There were repair orders for those hatch cover clamps, they would have been fixed during the winter layover.

I believe with the hatch cover(s) off, the bilge pumps couldn't keep up. When she crashed through a big wave, took on too much water and glided to the bottom. The crew would have been expecting to emerge from the other side of the wave.

Iron ore is mixed with clay and tumbled into taconite pellets.

I don't know much about music, but I once heard that the rhythm or tempo has a specific name. This song is an Irish Gale.

These freighters had very little electronics. Limited radar and no depth finders.

The theory today is that the "three sisters" took down the Edmund Fitzgerald. A large wave comes over the front, pushing the front of the boat down (the fore?) Before the ship can right itself, a second wave comes, the ship's front goes down even further, because it was never fully corrected. The third wave pushes the ship's front so far down that she cannot come up. The freighter museum at the locks has an area dedicated to this.

The Mariner's Cathedral in downtown Detroit is still there, dwarfed by the other buildings.

My uncle was a crewman on the Edmund Fitzgerald when it went down. I don't remember him much as I was very young.

My parents and other aunts and uncles used to talk about him a lot, especially his love of the water and working on ships.

Hope this doesn't sound too corny but I want to say it. Thanks to Cabin Fever for bringing up this topic every November 10. The background information ImmaculateSublimity provided was exceptional as well. And thank you copperkid3 for giving us the Lake Superior facts. For WillowC to have a family member aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald when it was lost is quite interesting too. Thank you all for your contributions on this subject.

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The song made me an instant fan of Gordon Lightfoot. The story gave me never ending respect for those who make their living on the water. I was on a submarine that came within moments of being lost, and that feeling is one you will never foget. Thank you Cabin Fever for the reminder.

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My 6 year old son & I LOVE the song, thanks for all the history behind it. I know he will love to hear more about what really happened!

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Please take the time to watch this video about Cerebral Palsy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0mrs4fpRv8

Yes, thank you ImmaculateSublimity and copperkid3!

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Excellent posts, everyone. I attended a remembrance service at the Mariner's Church in Detroit many years ago. It's lovely. I don't know how to post a link to youtube here, but if you go there and search "Mariner's Church Detroit" someone has posted a tour of the building and speaks with the pastor about the Edmund Fitzgerald.

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very cool tune

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GL is one of my favorite singers, I did not know for several years that the story was true and now have more knowledge of the song.

Thanks all

Nancy

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The sky this morning was an ominous red...how fitting for the anniversary of this maritime tragedy.

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My Dad worked as a crewman on the Great Lakes when he was younger. He doesn't talk about it much, and I think it's because all the men who work the Great Lake "boats" live with the reality every day that this could be their end. Superior is an absolutely breathtaking Lake, in more ways than one.

If any of you ever have the opportunity to do the trip along the TransCanada around the Lakehead (the north shore of Superior), do so. Especially in fall, the scenery is powerful and sometimes, a little overwhelming. When we travel east, we take this route, and always stop at a little beach called "Old Woman Bay" for a few hours. I can honestly say I've never felt closer to God than when standing on that rock beach. Lake Superior definitely holds something special.

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I never really understood how big Superior was till we took a ferry out to Isle Royale for a backpacking trip. It was rough even in August and I don't think I've ever been on a lake so big that I couldn't see land in any direction. Love that country...I'd love to go back some day.

Great song.

My husband works on the Anderson. We always make sure he takes his vacation the month of November. It is the worst month to be out on the lakes.

I appreciate the reminder, but ol' Gord's song...

I was a fan of GL's for years before he released The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, ever since I was a little kid.

While I appreciate the song as a memorial to the men who went down that November day, I cannot stand the song. It was the beginning of Lightfoot's Repetitive Redundancy stage.

I still like GL, but there are songs I avoid...

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About 5 seconds after I opened this topic, NBC did a spot on this tragedy.
Rest their souls.

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