"We would all stop working if we heard it on the radio," he said. Lightfoot's song made an impact on him when it was released. Four men were assigned to the lighthouse 35-year-old Engineman 1st Class William Maxwell, 22-year-old Seaman Walter Scobie and 18-year-old Seaman Richard Horn. "It was a wild night," he said before heading into the woods to see the sight with friends. Ship repairs sidelined the crew that night. He was posted on the 110-foot tugboat the Naugatuck, the primary rescue vessel on the east end of Lake Superior. Marie, Mich., on the night the ship went down. Shawn McKenzie of Superior was in the the U.S. Waves crashed hard on Wednesday night, the moon reflecting on the water, and flashlights dotted parts of the shore as visitors sought out the best views. Between the event and the popularity of the Lightfoot song, it's tied the Fitzgerald connection to the site." "It inspired him to go home and turn the beacon on at dusk," Scriven said. The Head Lighthouse Keeper’s Residence and the Assistant Lighthouse Keepers Residences (duplex) offers visitors a breathtaking view of the ocean. In 1985, the lighthouse's then-keeper heard Lightfoot's song on the anniversary of the ship's sinking. It had been decommissioned long before the famous freighter went down. It began serving ships in 1910, prompted by 30 shipwrecks during the 1905 gales of November, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. Split Rock Lighthouse isn't directly connected to the Edmund Fitzgerald. "It gives you chills and makes you feel more connected to the event." "It does move me a little bit when you hear it," said Hayes Scriven, the site's manager who has lived on the premises for three years. The musician died Monday - and the lighthouse keepers were quick to put out a call to honor him. It remains a song that resonates with many who live on or visit the North Shore. Lightfoot created his epic ballad about a month after the disaster that occurred on Lake Superior about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Mich. The Edmund Fitzgerald, headed from Superior, Wis., to Detroit with a load of taconite, sank in a mighty storm in 1975 and none of the 29 crew members onboard survived. I feel like with it being kind of last minute, it's a good chance to see it with a smaller crowd." "It was just a spontaneous, 'Ok, who wants to go,' " said Germscheid. Rescigno had never seen the landmark at all, while Germscheid has photos of herself as a kid eyeing it from this same shoreline. They aren't necessarily Lightfoot fans, but they are lighthouse-curious. The trip was the continuation of a long-running inside joke for Rescigno and Germscheid, who are part of a group that regularly visits the North Shore and always cues up Lightfoot's shipwreck ballad when they crest the Interstate 35 hill that dips into Duluth. Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. The two were among the dozens who pulled into the adjacent Split Rock State Park under a bright moon, navigating paths and rocky shoreline for a look at the glowing beacon shining from the lighthouse that sits atop a 130-foot cliff on the edge of Lake Superior. 10 anniversary of the shipwreck - lasted two hours. The lighting, which usually happens just a few times a year - including on the Nov. Paul area hiking buddies to the North Shore on Wednesday night.Įmilio Rescigno and Elizabeth Germscheid made the more than three-hour drive after seeing an Instagram reel about how the lighthouse keepers planned to honor the late Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot, whose song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a fan favorite for lighthouse visitors. The invitation to see Split Rock Lighthouse's beacon lit - a rarity for the long decommissioned tourist attraction - was appealing enough to lure two St. The Canadian Coast Guard keeps the Machias Seal Island lighthouse staffed for sovereignty reasons due to the island’s contested status with the United States.LAKE COUNTY, Minn. Except for the light on Machias Seal Island in New Brunswick, all of these lighthouses are manned for operational purposes. The training of lighthouse keepers now is usually the responsibility of the Navy or the Coast Guard in most countries.Īs of October 2017, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced that Canada had 51 staffed lighthouses: one in New Brunswick, 23 in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 27 in British Columbia. Building repairs, repair work on broken and blind buoys, spatial realignment of wayward navigational aids off the coast, and technical maintenance on automated systems are all tasks performed by lighthouse keepers today. Electrification and other technical advances such as remote control and automated bulb changing started to emerge in the 1960s, and by the late 20th century, paying resident keepers at the lights had become obsolete in some areas while their roles had simply changed.
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