Exhibit at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum recalls hoopla when doomed boat and others first took to the water

VERMILION — Fifty years ago, droves of people flocked to the shores of River Rouge, Mich., to witness the beginning of what would become the greatest tragedy on the Great Lakes.

On June 7, 1958, the 729-foot Great Lakes ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald was side-launched into the harbor —signifying the birth of the ship.

Although remembered for tragically sinking 17 years later, Chris

Gillcrist, executive director of the Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Vermilion, said the launch of the Edmund Fitzgerald was considered a spectacular event.

“Launchings of vessels on the Great Lakes was a huge affair,” Gillcrist said. “Thousands came out to watch and christening parties followed. It was a major social and economic celebration.”

The Inland Seas Maritime Museum is running an exhibit —“Sideways to the Sea: A Ship is Born”— through Aug. 1 highlighting the ceremonies of side-launches and its grand 200-year history.

The process was an impressive one, Gillcrist said, and was unique to the Great Lakes region because of the sheer size of the ships and the narrow waterways into which they were dumped.

Ships would be built along a river from the ground up atop a series of carefully placed timber supports. When it was time to slide the ship in the water, wedges would be driven under the land side of the ship, forcing the weight of the ship to transfer and carry it into the water — sometimes at a tilt of 90 degrees.

“You don’t really get a sense of it anymore, because it hasn’t been done for a number of years,” Gillcrist said. “It really is fascinating to see these boats go in the water.”

The museum’s exhibit features items that range from an invitation to the side-launch of the Edmund Fitzgerald to a commemorative champagne bottle top left behind from the christening of the David Z. Norton ship in 1906.

There’s even video footage of the Edmund Fitzgerald sliding into the harbor, which is followed by the most recent launching of the U.S. Coast Guard Mackinaw in Marinette, Wis., in April 2005.

The 28-foot-long christening flag of the Irving S. Olds, which was launched in 1942 in Lorain, is the largest piece in the collection and fittingly spans the ceiling of the exhibit.

Gillcrist said that back then, shipbuilders kept the ship’s name secret until its launching, and only then was the flag unfurled to the applause of those in attendance.

Both the flag and the video depicting some of the launches are a favorite of Carrie Sowden, the museum’s archaeological director.

Whether looking at the flag or the pictures of the numerous launches throughout the exhibit, Sowden said you can’t help but get a little wrapped up in bits of Great Lakes history that isn’t well-known.

“There’s a lot of history here, but there’s also a science to shipbuilding and the launches,” she said. “The ceremony was probably like a ribbon cutting, just a lot more interesting, and with a lot more people.”

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

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