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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135249
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | 1
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Some of you may have heard the Gordon Lightfoot song about the wreck of this ill-fated vessel, now fifty years ago yesterday. Half a century! It resonates with me because the next year, 1976, was when I was assigned to UNCANNY X-MEN. I was living in London, Ontario, and on the anniversary it seemed every radio station had Lightfoot’s shanty on a loop. (That might have been one of the contributing factors in my decision to work in silence, which persists to this day.) Fifty years!
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Jonathan A. Dowdell
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 July 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 452
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | 2
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My wife and I just talked about this event and song yesterday (Nov 10, is the anniversary of the sinking). We both remembered the song and were amazed that the ship went down in 1975 -- when we were kids. Not in the 1800s as we had both always assumed.
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William Roberge
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 July 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 11357
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | 3
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One of my wife’s favorite songs.
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Joe Gravel
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 63
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | 4
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Now that song will be playing in my head all day. :)
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Edward Aycock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2024
Location: United States
Posts: 74
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | 5
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The song's vibe does make it sound like it happened long ago instead of when I was already walking the earth. Was the actual incident a big news story at the time or has only grown with the song?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135249
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 6:43pm | IP Logged | 6
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The first anniversary commemoration was the first time I heard of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Either I hadn’t been paying attention (not impossible), or the story didn’t make much noise in Alberta. Worth considering that basically a “local story”, albeit enormously tragic, it may well have been Lightfoot’s song that raised it to the state of legend and kept the memory alive.
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Steve Coates
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 November 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 892
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | 7
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It would have been a more concerning story for the Americans as all the crew were US residents.
In 1975, Gordon Lightfoot was touring the states and Canada. He was spending time song writing in the Toronto area, maybe the news stirred some inspiration.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | 8
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He has said he was inspired by a news story, so, yeah.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135249
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 8:03pm | IP Logged | 9
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One of the creepy things about this wreck, for me, is that the water in which she rests is 200ft more shallow than the overall length of the ship.
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Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3810
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | 10
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Given that 24-7 news and social media didn't exist in 1975, it's pretty easy to believe that one could miss the story, even if it made every front page that day. My mom told me that she completely missed the Apollo 13 crisis since she was pregnant with me and she and my dad were in the process of looking for a house in April of 1970.
But I bet if you're a touring musician in 1975, you've got a lot of down time to ingest whatever reading material is lying around.
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Steve Coates
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 November 2014
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 11 November 2025 at 8:47pm | IP Logged | 11
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Looks like both the Associated Press and the United Press circulated articles shortly after the wreck. Which would have been used by any of their subscribers.
But it must have been the topic of conversation in many breakfast coffee shops and bars, especially near the Great Lakes.
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