Well, she sailed out of Wisconsin
With no way to know this voyage would be her last
And while the sky was clear and full of sunshine
Weather was turning stormy--fast!
Those inclined to superstition would proclaim
That a witch's spell had been cast
She ignored their fears and set her course
And glided on the lake to meet her fate

They'd filled her hold the week before
With processed ore for the steel mills blazing
Captain Ed took care and watched the small screen
Failing at the moment he was gazing
Then he sent the final word
"We can hold our own", an ironic turn of phrasing
And then Fitzgerald slipped beneath the water
The mystery lingers to this day

We recall the Ed Fitzgerald
Forty years the ship is gone
But there's something in the story
Keeps the memory living on
And the families still crying
Say a prayer and ring the bell
For the crew of Ed Fitzgerald
And the job they did so well

That night the Arthur Anderson
Followed on the course Edmund Fitz was sailing
As the west wind blew, a hurricane
And rogue waves quickly overtopped the railing
Then a shudder shook the hull
And somewhere far below, a fractured bulkhead failing
Then it plunged, the stricken freighter
'twas the disappearing ship of yesterday

At the Maritime Cathedral
One more time the ship's bell tolls
For the dedicated sailors
Twenty nine courageous souls
Those of us among the living
Contemplate the mournful sound
Long ago November evening
Ed Fitzgerald going down