Almost looks like the Captain decided to stop by the drive-thru at Hardee's. Seriously, now and then we see one of the big boats in the Portage because of some bad weather coming over the Lake.

This scene was captured across the canal, in fact 25 year old Jonathan was standing in the same spot where he framed the fog around the Lift Bridge last week.

Uploading the Pasty Cam late today, I remembered where I was 25 years ago tomorrow. Having just crossed the Mackinaw Bridge through some howling winds, the news came on the radio that the Edmund Fitzgerald had apparently gone down. That evening I drove to Munising and spent the night, on my way to the Copper Country.

Where were you 25 years ago?

I remember delivering newspapers that morning in Dollar Bay, November 10, 1975.

I remember being in my junior year at Farmington High School when we heard that the Edmund Fitzgerald went down.

I sailed on the EDMUND FITZGERALD for it's maiden season in 1958 and Ransom Cunday, Jr. was on her for the fatal trip. We both lived in Hubbell only 2 blocks apart.

I was living in Marquette and remember the storm-it was a doozie.

I was on a bench where the road dead ends facing Lake Michigan with a gale coming from the NW. in Charlevoix Even the Jr. lake was wild and a cold spray stung my face, as I thought what a bad night to be on the lake. Later that evening as waves crashed outside my cottage so loud I had to
turn the radio louder..I heard of the Fitz going down, and sat in front of the fireplace for sketchy details on the news for the next few hours.
Charlie- I have made that Mackinac Bridge run many times with squalls coming from the W-NW. Fun in a scary sort of way..as the bridge starts to move in the wind!!!!!

I was 12 years old, and remember sitting at the
kitchen table in Hubbell reading about the
incident in the Gazette the day after it occurred.
It made a big impression on me at the time.

Hi Pasty Central -- This picture was taken as the Freighter went under the Bridge. We were on our way out of town and caught these pictures. We became the pasty cam from the south side... - LP Larson's

A shot of the Larson Family appeared as Friday's (11/10) picture of the day

I remember the night, like it was just yesterday. We were shopping in Marquette but decided to end our trip to town because the weather was so threatening. It was like the sky was warning everyone to stay home and out of harms way. I have never seen a night as frightening as that. The colors of the sky, the howling of the winds and the eeriness that combined the two. The rawness of the elements, just left you with the feeling of impending doom. The winds lashed at everything in its way. I was never so glad to see the lights of the airbase as I was that evening. We made it home safe that night, I wish everyone that was out in that weather could have been as lucky as we. God bless them.

That was my 2nd year at MTU. At the time the storm seemed like a great idea for several of us to cut classes, buy some beer and head out to The Breakers. We just thought it was great fun to sit there waaay back from the water but still getting soaked by the spray...lttle did we know what was happening on the lake.

I've been waiting for this day to see what would appear on the PastyCam...thank you all for sharing your memories for us to read...D.H. tells it so we can almost imagine that what it was like.

I was living in santa Rosa CA;14 years old.My merchant marine father was home on vacation when we heard the news.He got his start on the ore boats in 1948 sailing out of superior.When he heard the news he got a bottle and proceded to have a few shots,cry,and made a few phone calls as i guess he knew a few of the men.The next day he talked about superior in general and said that he had been in hurricanes and typhoons around the world...but there was nothing scarier then supereior in her full "storm roar" as he put it...

I was in the Army, stationed in Germany and later remember listening to Gordon Lightfoot's song about the ship. Then 15 years later and 1/2 a world away I was working for Northern Telecom in Tokyo and I met Edmond Fitzgerald - he was NT's CEO and his father owned the shipping company and had named that ship for him. Small world!

I was only but 3 months an 13 days old at the time it went down in Lk. Superior.

I remember the sky,wind,lake that day. It was as if everyone had a BAD feeling of the storm. I have not had a creepy stur in me like it to this day. GOD BLESS the 29& their familys.

I wasn't born yet when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down, but I have learned alot about it. I have learned that the waves were so big, at Whitefish Point, they were washing past the lighthouse, and down the road! Then across the peninsula in Big Traverse Bay, on the northern side of the bay, where the river flows pararllel to the lake, the waves were going from the lake right across the beach, past the cottages, and across the road into the river. In spots it washed the road out, and let big holes in it.

i wasn't born yet but the edmund fitzgearld has been a big deal in my life do to the fact my great grandparents live on whitefish bay and my grandpa was out fishing that night only about 20 miles away from the wreck.

The night the Fitzgerald went down I was driving the last car (VW bug) to cross the Mackinaw Bridge before it was shut down . We traveled to Paradise and saw the lights of the many boats and ships at anchor in Whitefish Bay.
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That night I was a freshman at MTU and was working at WGGL-FM, the public radio station. I was checking the UPI news wire, when word came across of the Edmund Fitzgerald being missing and presumed lost. I read that article at midnight right before signing off. It was a hard introduction to life on the Lake.

on the day that the FITZ went missing.I was on the William Clay Ford in whitefish bay. we went out to help search. tHAT WAS THE WORST STORM i can recall being in.

Like Bill B., my wife, daughter and I were headed downstate that night, in a Ford Maverick on which I had placed a home-made car top carrier. It stuck out wide on both sides. At the bridge, about 10:00PM, the attendent wasn't going to let us cross due to the winds, and he was worried that the carrier would act like a wing and "flip" us over. Truck traffic had already been stopped. I finally talked him into letting us go, and, as I paid the toll, he mentioned that he had picked up a broadcast on his radio that said a ship had gone down in Whitefish Bay. That was the longest crossing of the Mackinaw Bridge I've ever had. Next morning, in Gaylord, we heard the news.

I could see and hear the lake clearly from my parents house in Marquette. While the storms sounded magnificent, the power was always something to behold and respected. I do remember that the Fitz wasn't the only boat to sink that night. The SuzyQ a 25' Nova (later they were Wellcraft Novas) sank in Marquette Presque Isle Harbor. Then wind, rain, and surge even in that very protected spot pulled the boat down. Thanks to good friends with an early 50's Jeep with a PTO winch the boat was raised from the bottom (about 4') and pumped out. The jeep worked because it's narrow wheel base and small size made it drivable down the main dock of pier II.

I was not born until 1980, however I did grow up in Michigan and learned about the "Big Fitz" in school, since then I have read and re-read everything I can get my hands on about the Good ship. I am in the Navy now and, a couple of months ago my ship went thru a storm that was the worst I have ever been in. We hit waves that reach 45 feet and wids up to 85mph. The wierd thing is some of us started to talk about the Fitz and started to hum the song by Mr. Lightfoot. I can't say what went throught the minds of the crew of that ship, but I can say I do know what it is like to feel like you are all alone out there and how small you feel. My prayers are with the family of the crew and may God Bless them, My God also Bless my 29 ship mates that were lost in that 1975 storm.
Jay Baker
USS Howard (DDG-83)
USN

Post moved to current discussion on this subject. See Nov. 10, 2003

I remember that day for my mother cried for the family and begged my father not to go to work and stay home and pray for the families. I attended NMU and my freshmen year two boys who lived under me in Gant Hall were swept all the wall by the mighty Lake. I have seen and witnessed many a storms on mighty Lake Superior- no lake can match her will to blow. May God Bless those families who have lost a loved one

i lived in newberry only a little ways away from white fish point and had spent many a summer on the lake. I was a junior in high school and left early from my after school job to go home i lived 3 miles out of town. i will never forget that day and night . my brother keep having to pull people out of the drifts in the road in front of our house and we lived on m-28 with our tractor. finally their was know traffic and the sun went down and all you could hear was the wind blowing ,blowing blowing thats the sound i went to sleep hearing that night. in the morning i looked out and there where no roads anywhere, it was just wind blown snow with the sun now shining of the trees and i could hardly keep my eyes open it was so bright.