On this date 39 years ago the most famous of all Great Lakes shipwrecks happened amid 35 foot waves and hurricane force winds. The Fitzgerald was fully loaded with iron ore pellets destined for a steel mill near Detroit when it went down in the Canadian side of Lake Superior. None of the 29 men on board survived.
It was class time Saturday night at the MTS Centre, and one of Canada's great oral historians was leading the session.
Once again, Gordon Lightfoot sang the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the hit that has kept the memory of the Nov. 10, 1975 maritime disaster, and the 29 lives that were lost, alive. Gordon Lightfoot proved he still has it at MTS Centre Saturday night.
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald would have been a long forgotten maritime disaster if it hadn't been for Lightfoot's song. Instead, it's become a bit of Canadian history we don't have to learn in social studies class.
In the waning days of 2014, the song is also keeping Lightfoot's legacy alive, as he finished up a tour of Western Canada Saturday before 4,500 folkies at Winnipeg's hockey arena, which was converted into a nifty concert hall for the evening.