Paddlers honor the historic shipwreck’s crew with a November kayak voyage
By Fischer Genau DIGITAL MEDIA LEAD
Sam Smith and Louis Babson, two seniors at Montana State University with a penchant for sea shanties, commemorated the sinking of the bulk freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald on its 51st anniversary by paddling an inflatable kayak across Hyalite Reservoir Tuesday. The two earth studies and paleontology majors brought a 30-rack of Miller Lite aboard, one beer for each crew member who perished on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, and another for the ship itself.
The idea was born in October when the two friends were talking about how they wanted a holiday to celebrate between Halloween and Christmas other than Thanksgiving. Smith grew up in Maryland and Babson in Oregon, far from the Midwest where tales of the Fitzgerald are legend. Still, the two had developed a love of sea shanties while working at Camp Melita on Flathead Lake together the summer after their freshman year. One of their favorite shanties is Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and it was the song that inspired their expedition.
“We were like, ‘Man, we’d rather listen to Gordon Lightfoot than Mariah Carey this time of year,’” Smith told EBS after his paddle. “That raised the question of, ‘Hey, how do you commemorate the wreck?’ and I feel like the obvious answer is a kayak and 30 beers.”
After their conversation, Smith and Babson put out the call for a two-person inflatable kayak on Reddit, and several users quickly offered to help. The eventual kayak lender had adopted a cat on the 50th anniversary of the shipwreck and named the feline after Gordon Lightfoot, so he was more than happy to offer up his watercraft for the excursion.
Smith and Babson, both donning cable-knit sweaters, hit the water around noon on Tuesday. Fortunately for the two men, the gales of November did not come early, and had to battle only a mild headwind on their paddle back to the boat launch. The sun shone down during their voyage, keeping them warm while small waves broke over the sides of their inflatable kayak. They, unlike the Fitzgerald, managed to stay afloat.
Both men were surprised that two news outlets picked up their story, but they said they had a great time.
“This went from, ‘Why are we doing this?’ to ‘Maybe we’ll do this next year,’” Smith said.
After their paddle, Smith and Babson wound down around a bonfire and cooked dinner, one would imagine singing sea shanties to honor the old ship. The two arranged for a friend to drive them home.
