The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald／船難記事

Edmund Fitzgerald 的船難事件，發生在1975年11月10日。在當時是一件令所有人震驚、悲慟的大事；因為小村莊以海維生，大風大浪不曾阻撓，即使偶遇天候不佳發生事故，也總有人可以生還歸來。

而這一天，這艘穩固、美麗的大船 Fitz，運載著29位包含數名首次出征的年輕船員出海，卻在加拿大安大略省和美國密西根州之間的蘇必略湖東南部，距離懷特菲詩灣(Whitefish Bay，亦稱白魚灣)入口大約17哩時遇上狂風巨浪，船身在尋獲時裂為兩半(如上圖下方)；而船上無一生還者的消息傳回小村莊時，悲傷有如化不開的濃霧，籠罩在所有村民的心上...

相關報導與紀念網站眾多，在此僅舉其一

1976年，知名創作歌手 Gordon Lightfoot 為了紀念所有罹難船員，而創作演唱這首「The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald」。被它所動的，是因為只有兩段簡單的、不停反覆的主副旋律，6分多鐘的歌詞卻沒有重複地娓娓訴說著故事的經過以及人們的悼念。來自加拿大的 Gordon Lightfoot，明明是冷冷的北國卻有著南方溫暖的嗓音，特有的敘事方式，無異更增添了這歌帶給人一股淡卻哀遠的懷念。

做遊艇建造工作的加拿大朋友 Glen 時常談論起這首歌，或許事故本身的轟動，也或者是他的工作之故，更多的，其實是因為，這「簡單」的旋律引人懷思的記憶，永遠是最動人的吧。

Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (1976)
Music and lyrics by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.