3.5

She began her unfortunate journey from Wisconsin carrying a cargo of ore pellets, but was caught in a severe storm the next day. She sank in deep waters, with no distress signals sent previously. No one on board survived.

This book is about the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior in 1975, the search for her wreckage and the subsequent investigations into the cause of the incident.

I'm from Michigan and remember the popular folksong by Gordon Lightfoot about this massive ship sinking. I always wanted to know more about the details so I finally got this book to learn, and it was a wonderful source of details about the mystery, and many of the probabilities of what likely happened that night it went down fully loaded in a storm 15 miles from land.

It delved into some of the attempts and dives to get to the wreck and view or recover things, and how this upset the surviving family members. Many of whom felt it should be treated as a grave and left alone. Especially when filming was started. There were some drawings and a few pictures of the wreck, which made you really want to see what was later filmed, when they had better equipment and better lighting. Similar to a fascination with the Titanic I suppose, which sent me going off to a museum in St. Petersburg, when I lived in Florida, to look at all the items there, which I was totally entranced by, including the small submarine thing that they went down in to get the pictures and items.

But the main curiosity was mostly to try and figure out what happened, and I don't think even the experts really agree on that topic. I believe they can agree on a couple or a few probable things that may have happened, but even with a ship following not all that far behind, its still a mystery. Beyond that it needed to go to the family's wishes being honored, and they were. The site was consecrated as a gravesite by a ceremony with family and others present, so that it should no longer be explored or disturbed again.

Spelling errors, but a very good book.

Good book overall though a little tedious in places. A book like this should really have some pictures and maps to go along. I didn't know much about this incident other than the Gordon Lightfoot song, and I feel I have a better understanding after having read this book. Overall a good book, but not necessarily a page turner.

This was such an excellent, interesting read. I vacation around Lake Superior every summer and love the freighters but admittedly didn't know much about the Fitzgerald other than the basics. After reading this I feel like I know so much and it also would be interesting to learn more about the other Great Lakes shipwrecks

I really enjoyed this book. Well-written and very readable even though I know very little about cargo ships. I read on kindle but may recommend a paper copy because there’s a glossary in the back that is helpful. However, I read and understood the book just fine without using the glossary. Very informative, atmospheric, and a page-turner. Highly recommend!

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Though the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a very interesting topic, I did not find this book so much. I think that with a couple of changes it would have been a better reading experience for me. First, I think this book could have benefitted from the addition of a map of the great lakes. There were many references in the book to harbors, shipping routes, and of course the location where the ship went down that I would have liked to have been able to place on a map. Second, though there was a glossary of shipping terms, an actual diagram of a ship and the various decks, etc. would also have been immensely helpful.

Since I visited the Ship Wreck Museum at White Fish Point in Michigan, the account of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, was particularly interesting. We were able to stand and look in the direction of the sinking and it was easier to relate to the facts of the storm and sinking. This was a great read and I’m going to read another book on this topic by Michael Schumacher…

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

Oh, that song. Oh, that voice. Like others, I only knew about the disaster of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck through the musical poetry of Gordon Lightfoot. The details, the setting, the growing peril made my heart sink enough to want to know more about the disappearance of the Great Lakes ship.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours

The Fitz was the largest ship ever to have sunk in the Great Lakes and it's possible that it could have all been avoided. That's all hindsight, of course, but she was a vessel that most assumed could handle any storm system on the Great Lakes. She had a decent crew and was a tough ship, which bred overconfidence. The author makes a good point in noting that better safety measures had created a false sense of security for the big Lakes ships. When the skies changed color and the Nor'easters blew in and the waves began to get higher and higher, the captains of the small boats had the good sense to anchor and wait out any nasty storm. The larger ships went ahead as usual.

Nor'easters come to the Great Lakes in the month of November. The cold air moves over the still-warm summer water, thus giving paid to the line, T'was the witch of November come stealin'. Brutal month, brutal storms. And let's call out Lake Superior for what it is...Old Treacherous. LAKE SUPERIOR DOES NOT NEGOTIATE! Maybe you can call Mother Nature's bluff on little old Lake Erie, but don't go there with the big boys.

This book tells the story very well, I was completely absorbed. This isn't a mystery, the reader already knows there is a disaster and the author's job is to explain the front-end and back-end of the event. This really gets nitty-gritty when it comes to the question of why the ship foundered. Fault of the captain? Fault of the corporation? Fault of the weather service? Some thought it shoaled, some thought it was hit by a rogue wave, some thought its hatches blew. And how much pounding can one ship, even a leviathan like the Fitz, really take?

As a resident of coasts, I never cared to learn about the Great Lakes. After all, I had the mighty Pacific, so how bad could some inland lakes really be? I changed my mind on a business trip to Chicago, in winter no less. My hosts walked me over to Lake Michigan and that did it for me. Yes, lakes can have horrendous waves. The word that stuck with me was "brutal". After I ran back to the hotel, I spent the rest of the evening in a hot bath looking up every single shipwreck that ever took place on the Great Lakes. One can only imagine the terror of the crew of the Mighty Fitz as that ship took its final dive.

And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Book Season = Winter (doomed mariners)

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. ~ Gordon Lightfoot from The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

If you know anything about the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald you probably learned it from the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot. However, the song is, in a few points, not quite accurate. This is by no means a criticism. Poets are entitled to creative license and much was still unknown about that fateful night of November 9-10, 1975 when Lightfoot penned his ballad. He filled in some of the blanks. A few items were later disproved – but this in no way diminishes the artistic value nor the labor of love that was Gordon Lightfoot’s hauntingly beautiful tribute to “the 29”.

My full review: http://100greatestnovelsofalltimeques...