[Crowbob]

[Former version:] That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
[Latter version:] That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed

[Former version:] At seven PM a main hatchway caved in
[Latter version:] At seven PM it grew dark, it was then

[Former version:] In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
[Latter version:] In a rustic old hall in Detroit they prayed

The melody is from an old Irish Dirge that Lightfoot slowed down a bit. The ’twined ’ guitar was meant to portray the helplessness the crew must have endured when the gales of November were blowing.

Buddy a mine has a summer place on Neebish Island which is on the extreme eastern edge of the UP. The family has become very knowledgeable about the freighters. The big boats have to make a sharp 90° turn to starboard just before they pass in front of his cabin. As such they are moving quite slow but the captains up the RPMs to gain a little momentum. At the bow, the Fitz was silent, being a 700+ footer (modern freighters are over 1000 feet). You could be out grillin’ lake trout and look out to see a giant wall of steel where the river used to be a minute ago. Really startling. They push the water up the banks about 5 feet when they pass. The captain would put Tigers games on loudspeakers when he passed Neebish so when the Fitz sailed it was greeted on both shores (US and Kanadia) with flags of The famous Gothic ‘D’.

The Fitz was longer than the water it sank in was deep. Stood on end the Fitz would stick out about 200’.