| I have played that song a few times today......It still gives me a lump in my throat. You see, back in 1975 I was in high school in Wisconsin. Played hooky to do some end of the season trout fishing on the Montreal River near Ironwood, Michigan. My Dad was born in Bessmer, and we still have family in that area. We could see the storm coming in, and as the waves started to build, we got the he** off the river. We were watching the waves from high above the lake, and they got to be the biggest we had ever seen. The wind was taking down trees, leading us to believe we would be safer in town. Plus, it was dark by then.We spent the night of the 10th in Ironwood, then the next morning we went back out to the river. On the way out there, the local radio station broadcast that the Fitz was missing. The storm was still going, but had died down a bit. We were able to get close enough to the mouth of the river to see a huge rockpile the size of a house. It had been left in the middle of the mouth of the river by the waves, and there was junk and downed trees all along the beach. I had not personally known any of the sailors who went down on the Fitz, but over the years I have met quite a few family members of the crew. And when Lightfoot's song first came out, I was driving home from school.......I literally had to pull the car over, I could not hold it together. I was going to head to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse today for the memorial, but I could not get out of work. To this day, that song gives me shivers.............
God Bless The Fitz, Her crew, and their families.
mike |