"We Are Holding Our Own."
Rituals and Tradition on Great Lakes Shipwreck Memorial Day <3
Today is November 10th, the anniversary date of the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. The Mighty Fitz, our great freighter which sank during a massive and unexpectedly treacherous storm in 1975, 49 years ago today. Just after 7:10pm.
Many people know the name of our beloved ship because of the song by Gordon Lightfoot, others because of an interest in nautical or American history, some hearing the name as being important if you grew up in Michigan, on the Canadian side, or another Great Lakes state.
“We are holding our own,” the last radio message received by Captain Ernest M. McSorley, are words I think of often. I imagine the captain and crew as these words were spoken, the positions they were in, the thoughts going through their minds. They are words of strength and courage, and also they are words of hope. They are words of fear, words of honesty. There is a purity about them that is so powerful, and I find they are words of grounding during times of struggle, when all odds are against us, when it maybe just isn’t looking good. Try saying them out loud and seeing how they feel. Try saying it applied to just you - plant your feet, take a slow deep breath and say out loud:
“I am holding my own.”
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when it first took to the water in 1958. For the first 17 years of the ship’s life, it would haul iron ore from Minnesota to Detroit, Toledo, and other ports on the Great Lakes, often breaking hauling records, including its own. In the beginning, Captain Peter Pulcer was in charge, and he made the Fitz a beloved fixture by playing music over the ship’s intercom while moving through the St. Clair and Detroit rivers or at the Soo Locks, day or night, without fail. People would gather to welcome the ship as it passed through their ports, and Captain Pulcer became known as the ‘DJ Captain.’ The ship was known and loved, which seems strange and sweet for a cargo freighter.
In 1972, Captain Ernest M. McSorley took over for the Mighty Fitz after commanding nine other ships in his 40 years as a mariner. He was 63 years old, and respected in the industry as a skillful captain to have aboard in heavy weather conditions.
On the afternoon of November 9, 1975, around 2:30pm, the ship left with a cargo of ore pellets from the port of Superior, Wisconsin, on the way to a steel mill near Detroit. Another lake freighter, the SS Arthur M Anderson, also carrying iron ore, joined along the route, and they operated in close contact on that final journey.
The next day, on November 10th, a great storm arrived on Lake Superior, and both ships were in struggle, with massive winds, and waves up to 35 feet high. The ships had been in radio contact, and at 7:10pm, Captain McSorley sent the final message to Captain Jesse B. Cooper and first mate Morgan Clark, ‘we are holding our own,’ and shortly after, without any further contact or distress message, the ship sank into the lake. The entire crew including the captain died in the wreck.
After they lost sight of the ship’s lights and it disappeared from their radar screen, the SS Arthur M Anderson reported the loss to the United States Coast Guard and showed up to search for survivors. No survivors or bodies were found, and the exact reason for the sinking remains unknown beyond speculation and theory. Captain Cooper said:
"I know one thing, at 3:20 in the afternoon, that ship received a mortal wound….I honestly believe they knew they were in trouble, but Whitefish Bay was only 14 miles away and he (Captain McSorley) thought he could make that."
Here is a more detailed account of the story including the radio messages.
Here is the official Coast Guard report released April 15, 1977
When the fatal wreck was confirmed, Rev. Richard W. Ingalls of the Mariners’ Church of Detroit, was one of the first to receive the news. It was early morning on November 11, the break of dawn, when Father Ingalls received the phone call. He went directly to the church, said a prayer for each mariner lost, and rang the church bell 29 times for all to hear. This tradition continued every year until Father Ingalls died in 2006.
This is the part of the story where things become increasingly personal to me. I often pause here, overwhelmed and not knowing quite how to continue, so many streams of thoughts moving in and out of each other. Different chapters, different meanings.
My parents were married at the Mariners’ Church by Father Ingalls in 1980. The same man who rang those famous 29 bells also led my parents into marriage.
In 1994, Father Ingalls led the memorial service for my dad. The same man who rang the 29 bells, who married my parents to each other, also led us in mourning as my dad was returned to the earth, like those 29 men who were returned to the sea.
Father Ingalls rang the bells every year on this day until he died in 2006.
It was an article that came out November 24, 1975 which inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write the classic ballad which brought the news and story of the ship to a larger audience. Here is the article, ‘the Cruelest Month.’
In 2007, I started dating someone in NYC who was originally from Michigan, too. We hadn’t spoken maybe at all about this story, and I don’t actually remember exactly how this came about, maybe on a trip to visit his grandfather’s house, but something happened that I just couldn’t believe.
I had a history of admiration and appreciation of lore around the Edmund Fitzgerald, being from Michigan, because of my family’s story with the Mariner’s Church, because of my own interest in sailing, ships, and nautical history, because of an appreciation for crossed storylines, timelines, and making intergenerational meaning. I knew the photos of the ship, I loved the book Mighty Fitz, I liked learning more and thinking about it. I knew the classic photograph, the one at the top of this post and as the image in the video above. I had seen it in books and articles, posters and reinterpreted as paintings. It was the cover image of the Mighty Fitz book. Everyone knew that picture.
Again, I don’t remember how or when exactly I found this out, but it turned out this classic photograph was taken by the uncle of the guy I was dating, this person I had come to know simply as his ‘Uncle Rob.’ He was a nice person who loved his cats, who loved taking photos. He would share them with family and friends with prints, slideshows, and DVDS he made and distributed as gifts during the holidays.
Imagine when I learned that Uncle Rob had taken that photograph!!! I remember being in shock and awe, insisting he be more widely appreciated by the family. I truly believe they had no idea the weight and importance of his contribution to history. Their grandfather Clarence, a kind and gentle man adored by birds and woodland creatures, had a framed print of the photograph hanging in his house. I would admire the picture on visits to see him, amazed at the fact that Uncle Rob had taken the photo, printed it, framed it himself. And it sat there on the wall as any other photo in the world, a silent decoration.
I told Uncle Rob of my amazement and honor to know him, and he sent me the raw files of the photograph, saying I was free to print and share it as I liked, that he just wanted people to enjoy his work and never expected anything in return. I was thankful though I never did anything with the file, and always felt he deserved more recognition and praise somehow. I was reading our old correspondence today and found this message I wrote him in 2010:
By the way,
Thank you so much for taking that Edmund Fitzgerald photo. It really is special, and it has meant a lot to me for a long time.
It's a special and beautiful picture, and I wish my dad was around to get to shake your hand. Someday I'd like to get a copy for my brother.
I hope you get to hear the Tony Rice version of the song, it is a really nice version.
See you soon!
Jesse
After Grandpa Clarence died, his belongings were shared amongst the family. I came into position of 3 items: a framed picture of a lighthouse taken and printed by Uncle Rob, a framed picture of an owl on the bow of a ship taken and printed by Uncle Rob, and the classic framed picture of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, taken and printed by Uncle Rob. I’m thankful that I still have all three of these framed pictures, and one of them has served in an annual remembrance ritual I like to do on my own, that I will share with you now.
The song written famously by Gordon Lightfoot, while I much appreciate it, and while it is due to this song that the ship is so widely known and remembered, is actually not the song that means the most to me in relation to the story. There are two songs of great importance to me that I will share with you. Both personal in their meaning and in my own history, both personal in my annual tradition observed on this day today.
When I was very young, I looked to my brother for guidance on many things, and one of the areas in which he influenced me a great deal was music. When I was little I wanted to like the music he liked, and fortunately for me, I genuinely loved the albums he shared with me, and they became as influential and meaningful to me as those I found on my own. Two of the greatest artists he brought to my attention remain two of my favorites today, Tony Rice, and the Great Lakes Myth Society.
I won’t go into two much detail about my relationship to the music of both of these artists, as this would be a completely different post with many chapters of its own, but I will just touch on the two songs that are relevant and meaningful today.
Each year on this day, I like to stand in front of my framed picture of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and listen to two songs:
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Tony Rice
Lake Effect by Great Lakes Myth Society
And if I’m not at home, I will find a quiet place or take a walk, stand by the water’s edge, put on my headphones, and have a moment of remembrance with these two very powerful recordings as the soundtrack to guide me through.
Tony Rice’s version of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is the version that means the most to me, because I relate it to my brother, because I prefer it musically, and because I feel it contains the seriousness of the events to revisit in respectful and solitary contemplation.
Following a focused listen to this song, I listen to ‘Lake Effect’ by the Great Lakes Myth Society, a song of storytelling that honors the mariners lost and the journey of those who take to the water with courage. I’m always moved to tears and chills by the end, and I’m always thankful for this band that is so important in my life for writing this masterful and epic ballad of remembering history and continuing forward together. <3
And this year, I’ll add ‘Northwest Passage’ by Stan Rogers, whose music my brother shared while driving me to the airport after a trip to Michigan just a few weeks ago.
So that is my annual ritual for today. Feel free to join me if you like on this 49th anniversary. And if you are interested below are some other links if you would like to watch some livestreams of more official memorials taking place today.
**This has all been my abridged telling of the story - if you are interested you can learn much more through the many resources available today. There are books, websites, and museums dedicated to preserving the memory of the Edmund Fitzgerald, along with other Great Lakes vessels and shipwreck stories throughout. <3**
Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Ron Signorino of The Blueoceana Company :)
May your birthday be as smooth as a glass sea at dawn.
May calm seas and bright sunshine define the rest of your voyage. <3 <3 <3
Shipwreck Memorial Ceremonies Today: Attend in Person/Livestream:
Mariner’s Church - Detroit
11am - Great Lakes Memorial Service at the Mariners’ Church, Detroit
Attend in person or be notified when the service is streamed online
Dossin Great Lakes Museum
6pm - 25th Annual Lost Mariner’s Remembrance - in person and online
If you are in Detroit, you can visit the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, and if you are there today, you can attend the 25th Annual Lost Mariners Remembrance this evening. If you are anywhere else in the world, you can also Watch the Livestream this evening at 6pm. Last year, I attended in person, and it was an incredibly special experience that I hold close to my heart. We sang sea shanties all together, viewed presentations, watched as a memorial parade of boats went by on the Detroit River, decorated with Christmas lights and saluting with love. We were each given a red rose, and at the close of the event we all went to the pier edge and tossed our memorial roses into the river, saying silent words for the ship’s crew, for a departed loved one, for all who were lost in this wild world. Here are some pictures I posted and more about the experience in case you are interested.
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
7pm EST - the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum’s annual Edmund Fitzgerald memorial ceremony will be offered as a livestream:
Also available to watch on Facebook
Though I have never been there in person, I do have the upmost respect for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, however I am always confused as to why they close for the season on October 31, when the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the memorial ceremony are on November 10. It would be so nice to be able to visit the museum on or around that date, to see the bell in person and view their permanent exhibit dedicated to the ship. It would be a pilgrimage that many I feel would gladly take, even making it an annual tradition. Maybe I’m wrong or missing a crucial detail, but it seems the museum could close instead on November 11, or reopen just for the day on November 10. Either way, it would be nice to get there in the 2025 season to see the bell in person.
Thank you so much for reading. :) You might wonder why a shipwreck from 49 years ago is important to me, important to you, or important to anyone. You might wonder why we recognize it and memorialize it so strongly, why it matters, why we care so deeply about these mariners we never knew. Why these stories of history and lore become so personal and part of our own. What they represent, what it all means, what the bigger picture is. There is so much to think about and to analyze, to study and discuss. For today, let’s just follow our hearts to what feels right and comforting, familiar and moving. So light a candle, take a rose, remember someone, say their name out loud, and toss their remembrance rose into the shining sea with love.
We are holding our own. <3
