Caribou Island and the Edmund Fitzgerald
… more content to come
As we count down to the 50th anniversary of the Fitzgerald sinking on Friday November 10th, it seems there’ll be no commemoration in Sault Ste. Marie. Many will be recalling on their own where they were that Monday night in 1975.
It’s not been officially documented but it seems likely the last thing seen on land by those aboard the Fitzgerald was the light from Caribou Island lighthouse. My grandfather, Art Hurley had long left his lightkeeper post there 13 years prior to the Fitz passing by for the last time, and the light was automated by then. Still, it’s eerie to think that the Caribou beacon cutting through the storm was the last light seen by some of the 29 onboard.
This is one of many Fitz videos and while it’s one that correctly mentions Caribou Island in the story of the Fitz, it does make errors referring to the Eisenhower Lock (that’s in Massena, New York) and to the St. Lawrence River rather than St. Mary’s River.
Still, ‘The legend lives on… ‘