[GDNF2ET]

It always has been intended that a proper christening and the accompanying ceremony ensures good fortune to the lady and her crew throughout the life of the vessel. It's comforting to think that if a vessel does have a run of bad luck, it will be because her christening ceremony was poorly written or performed, rather than sea monsters, her Captain's incompetence, or any number of other reasons we'd rather not contemplate.


One new vessel's christening and launching seemed to strangely forebode its fate. Following the christening of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the iron ore behemoth slid down the skids and into the water at an unusual, precarious angle, throwing a monstrous wave back onto the launch area. The giant hull then crashed back against the pier with such violence that one onlooker actually suffered a heart attack and died.

The Edmond Fitzgerald was 729 feet long, 75 feet wide, and weighed 13,632 gross tons. She contained 21 cargo hatches, and her hold was large enough to transport the Statue of Liberty.