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Listen To the Radio Play: “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Did you ever wonder what it would feel like to be aboard a ship during a challenging storm? Our radio play “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” puts you in the shoes of a crewman. You’ll hear their actual dialogue and get a sense of the danger they faced. The Last Voyage of the SS…

Continue Reading Listen To the Radio Play: “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

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Great Lakes shipping route.

Great Lakes Shipping

The Great Lakes shipping route is a major waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to North America’s heartland. It extends from Duluth, Minnesota, on Lake Superior for 2,340 miles…

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What was the SS Fitzgerald’s Freight?

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was carrying about 26,000 tons of taconite pellets. Just what exactly is taconite? Taconite is the result of a method that was developed by…

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Our Mission

At Dry Dock Productions, we have a few goals in mind.  1.  We’d like to have the Fitzgerald radio play broadcasted nationally … >> MORE about Goals

Fitzgerald Radio Play in the News

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" has been featured in the following newspapers: Star Tribune - Newspaper of … >> MORE about Newspaper Coverage of the Radio Play

The Birth of a Radio Play

Hal Barnes

“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Glitche Gumee.” I wonder if Gordon Lightfoot … >> MORE about The Birth of a Radio Play

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How did the Fitzgerald Sink

What actually happened to the Fits?  There are several theories, each one has is’s strengths and weaknesses.

Fortunately, the William Clay Ford, at anchor in Whitefish Bay, recorded the last hour or so of the radio transmissions from that evening,

This video is a good presentation of the many theories about the cause of the sinking,

12 Facts: The Edmund Fitzgerald

1. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

The large cargo vessels that roamed the five Great Lakes were known as lakers, and the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was, at the time, the biggest ever built. It was constructed as a “maximum sized” bulk carrier and spanned 729 feet—the first laker to reach that length. It sat 39 feet high with a width of 75 feet, and weighed more than 13,000 tons without cargo. It was christened on June 8, 1958, and made its first voyage on September 24 the same year.

Read more at Mental Floss.

Gordon Lightfoot’s Masterpiece

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was a hit song composed and written by Gordon Lightfoot in 1976.

It tells the story of the sinking of the bulk carrier, SS Edmund Fitzgerald, in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.

The song was a number 1 hit in Lightfoot’s native Canada and reached number 1 in Cashbox in the U.S. after that.

 

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