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

jukebox · #41 11/10/10, 07:14 PM

Some remarkable pictures showing the power of "mother Nature".

http://www.youngsunowners.org/pics/L...irkSettler.htm

Grandmotherbear · #42 11/10/10, 07:27 PM

Lake Placid, FL is only 3 1/2 miles long and deepest point about 90 feet. During the Great March Storm of '93 there were 6 foot waves on that lake. (We had driven my MIL out there, and I was lying awake that night waiting for the roof to fly off. GFB and DMIL were sound asleep-Floridians sleep when they can, they figure they will deal with the roof flying off when it actually happens) I think it is safe to say that with Superior's size and depth that 31 feet is the highest "recorded" wave. Betcha there have been bigger ones, just no one left to talk about it.

Tracy in Idaho · #43 11/10/10, 07:52 PM

I've been listening and watching this video all day...

tinknal · #44 11/10/10, 07:54 PM

Tomorrow marks another horrible anniversary in the upper Midwest, and another time that the "winds of November came early". The Armistice Day Blizzard of 1941, otherwise known as the Day the Duck Hunters Died.

tinknal · #45 11/10/10, 08:17 PM

BTW, Both CF and I are challenged by calendars. The Blizzard was in 1940, and the Edmund Fitzgerald was 35 years ago...

mduncn52 · #46 11/10/10, 08:17 PM

We moved to Ohio in 1971. The Edmund Fitzgerald was just out of dry dock at American
Shipbuilding in Lorain. It was moored at the mouth of the Black River and the thing I remember was that you could not see the entire length of the ship with you peripheral vision. You actually had to move your head side to side to see the whole ship. It was a monster. But the "witch of november" is a bigger monster

luvrulz · #47 11/10/10, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind in Her Hair

I had to chuckle -
thats precisely Cabin Fever's memory of the boat ride out to Isle Royale -he was the only one in his group who didn't get sick.

I keep asking hiim when we're gonna go and he asks me if I'm ready to get seasick -and my answer is always the same "Seasick? ON A LAKE?!?!!?!?"

ACK! I have gotten seasick on Lake Erie..... No hope for me - wouldn't make it on Lake Superior, eh??

Chixarecute · #48 11/10/10, 08:34 PM

The Wreck is such a moving song - goose bumps every time I hear it.

malinda · #49 11/11/10, 04:10 AM

I believe the tune of Gordon Lightfoot's song came from part of an Irish song - "Back Home in Derry". Every time I hear "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", I am waiting for the next line of the tune because Lightfoot changed it and it's sort of cut off with no end.

Still a good song, and quite a story. I wasn't born yet at the time of the wreck, but remember my parents talking about what they remembered of it.

hoggie · #50 11/11/10, 08:04 AM

Thank you so much for this thread CF - I had never heard of this wreck but, living on the coast, hold everyone who is lost "at sea" dear.

But thank you everyone for all the information on Lake Superior - although having learnt at school about the "Great Lakes" I had never comprehended the sheer scale of them before. Much to learn there

Mutti · #51 11/11/10, 09:31 AM

I was born and raised in MI and well remember the day the Fitzgerald was lost. We spent all my summers by the Great Lakes and had a summer place on Superior. To see a storm on it is totally awe inspiring. A lake soooo cold you can't wade barefoot in August without your feet becoming numb...although as kids we swore we weren't cold thru blue lips. My mom took us to the Maritime Cathedral one time on a trip to Detroit. I love our Mo farm but ever summer my heart turns towards Mi and the lakes and woods. DEE

Forgot the excitement when the Fitzgerald came down the St. Clair river leading into Lake Huron....wow, think everyone who could was crowding the riverside parks to see this remarkable sight

Jerngen · #52 11/11/10, 12:46 PM

I live on Lake Superior, well three blocks from the shoreline.

I have travelled all over and I've never seen a body of water that calls to a person like this one does. We moved downstate last October but missed the lake and area so much that we moved back up here for good 11 months later!

Whenever a storm is brewing I always walk down to the shore and watch the waves. If it's a bad storm I'll drive down in my car, watch the lake in her fury, and think about the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I highly recommend the shipwreck museum at Whitefish point for those who have an interest in such things

They have the actual bell from the Fitzgerald there
http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/

MN Gardener · #53 11/11/10, 04:53 PM

I can see Lake Superior from where I work. There are times I just stare out there and think about the Fitzgerald. It puts chills down my spine. I could not imagine how cold the water must have been. The wind off the lake takes your breath away, the water would be just horrible.

Pony · #54 11/11/10, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN Gardener

I can see Lake Superior from where I work. There are times I just stare out there and think about the Fitzgerald. It puts chills down my spine. I could not imagine how cold the water must have been. The wind off the lake takes your breath away, the water would be just horrible.

Yeah, that's what I remember thinking at the time of the wreck: How bitterly cold that water is, and how horrible it must have been until hypothermia and then shock set in...

I won't ice skate on a lake (or any other body of water) because of that. I don't care HOW frozen it is.

**Cabin Fever** · #55 11/10/11, 08:50 AM

A sad reminder to us who live in the Great Lakes states and provinces.

ninny · #56 11/10/11, 08:55 AM

Love that song. Have it as one of my favorites on Youtube.

.

HOTW · #57 11/10/11, 09:17 AM

My Dad was a Marine Underwriter and I remember him coming home upset about this one. Being kids we didn't connect the dots til the song came out, we just knew him and Mum were talking in undertones about the wreck.

lamoncha lover · #58 11/10/11, 09:54 AM

I miss my Lake Superior. I was raised 2 blocks from her shores. She can be a temperamental thing full of fury and peace. Have been to Royal Isle several times. My best friends grandpa was Cpt Oberg and we would go every summer. I believe it was suzy's cave that in my teen years I told my friend if I ever I ran away she would find me there.
My sister took us to Isle Royal on their boat as adults many years ago. We got stranded there due to the weather. It was awsome!
I never got sea sick. Folks really should go if they get a chance.
Thanks for posting the words to the song. I have always liked that song..but never really knew what it said.
This post is making me very homesick

blynn · #59 11/10/11, 01:49 PM

Such a great song, and such a terrible tragedy.
Every time we make the trip to Duluth, all I want to do is walk along the lakeshore and stare out at Superior.

AR Cattails · #60 11/10/11, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN Gardener

Everytime I hear that song I get a cold chill down my body....nothing like what those poor sailors felt.

I get a cold chill too. I love that song and will probably be listening to it alot today. It was a terrible tragedy.