LAKE WITH COLD WATERS

 Lake With Cold Waters

Edmund Fitzgerald Photo Credit 1975 by Bob Campbell

On November 10th, 1975, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, low in the water, while seeking to shelter  from a growing storm at Whitefish Bay near to Lake Superior’s north shore, sank with the loss of all 29 aboard. Speculation has it that two open hatch covers blew off, and allowed water to enter the hold, causing her to list, and with gale force winds blowing 60 mph, and 25 foot waves, she plunged into a wave, and was unable to recover.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was over 700 feet in length. Originally coal burning she was converted to diesel oil. It was ships like this that ultimately left my father, a Great Lakes sailor, stranded on the dock. His ship, the Patterson Steamship Line’s, S.S. Saskadoc, launched in 1900, and only 422 feet in length, and coal burning, couldn’t compete with the large newer ships. So after a career of over 42 years on the lakes, he was retired.

Sailing, the life of a marine engineer, was all that my father knew. Too old to start over again,  he spent most of his time listening to the radio. Early one morning he heard  some tragic news …..

Lake With Cold Waters

Wind howling in the night

wave after wave 

each seeming stronger

sends my mind to another place

when a November spent long ago,

a ship fell asunder 

seeking shelter out of a storm,

and with its demise 

its crew was forced into a slumber 

no force could revive.

On this November day of long ago, 

in a place far away, 

come early morn,

an old man once a sailor 

by a radio did sit transfixed 

for news of the sailors

now asleep in the depths.

Once when much younger

he plied these same waters,

and knew of its power 

once released from its slumber.

Late November 

with the season soon ending 

sailors would pray that 

the lake with cold waters 

would continue to slumber,

allow them to cross untroubled waters.

But as it would oft happen 

waters once friendly 

would swell, 

and waves that could shatter

caused all ships to scatter, 

and seek out shelter

no matter the cost.

He remembered, 

the old man sitting transfixed

ear to the radio,

the many Novembers his ship 

sailing close to the water

loaded with grain

bucking wave,

after sickening wave,

fearing the fury of the lake 

with cold waters.

And then came the news, 

the ship and its crew were no longer,

the Edmund Fitzgerald had surrendered

and now lay at the bottom

of the lake with cold waters.

With tears streaming 

the old man turned off the radio……

~~~~~~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV9PoWQVga0

Back in the day we never gave much thought to the sailors on the Great Lakes, and the importance of their labours. Even I never gave much thought to to my father’s comings and goings. I suppose that one must experience the storms on the lake with cold waters before one can appreciate the danger.