Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - The Fitz

charlene · 11-09-2015, 08:06 PM

part two of the interview in previous post with the cook's daughter, PAM JOHNSON:

Mysteries remain

Johnson said she still has a lot of unanswered questions about the Fitz’s last voyage, and wonders in particular about her father’s final hours.

She said the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Bay contacted her in 2000 to say it received a unique letter from an 80-year-old psychic who lived in Muskegon, Wis.

Johnson said the woman, who was very religious, wrote that on the night the Fitz sank, she had been reading a newspaper in her living room when the paper suddenly turned into a TV screen, upon which she saw a large ship sinking in the Great Lakes and a man holding onto a railing on the deck for dear life.

The woman indicated she had told her husband a great ship was sinking in the Great Lakes that night and he responded that she was crazy — but she was right.

The woman said it was her understanding that the name of the man she saw on the railing was “Robert.”

Rafferty was the only member of the Fitz’s crew who had that first name.

Johnson said she stayed in communication with that woman for a time.

She said she also heard that in the weeks before the Fitz’s sinking, a small group gave a man who identified himself as “the cook of the Edmund Fitzgerald” a ride back to that ship from a business in Erie, Pa.

Johnson said a member told her the group accompanied the cook onto the ship, where one of them sensed that something was very wrong with the vessel and became violently ill. They then left.

Johnson said she has learned that as the ship sank, her father probably lived longer — and perhaps suffered longer — than most crew members because he worked in a part of the boat where the water would have taken longer to reach remaining pockets of air.

But Johnson personally likes to think her father went to bed before the ship sank, and died while sleeping.

She believes she will one day see him again.

And sometimes, Johnson said, “I feel him around me.”

She said she draws comfort from a dream in which she was approached by her father, wearing his trademark fedora.

“I saw him getting off the ship, walking over on the water and coming to me and saying ‘Let it go. I’m OK.’

“So I let it go. He’s OK.”

11-09-2015, 08:06 PM	#8
charlene Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 15,885	Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary part two of the interview in previous post with the cook's daughter, PAM JOHNSON: Mysteries remain Johnson said she still has a lot of unanswered questions about the Fitz’s last voyage, and wonders in particular about her father’s final hours. She said the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Bay contacted her in 2000 to say it received a unique letter from an 80-year-old psychic who lived in Muskegon, Wis. Johnson said the woman, who was very religious, wrote that on the night the Fitz sank, she had been reading a newspaper in her living room when the paper suddenly turned into a TV screen, upon which she saw a large ship sinking in the Great Lakes and a man holding onto a railing on the deck for dear life. The woman indicated she had told her husband a great ship was sinking in the Great Lakes that night and he responded that she was crazy — but she was right. The woman said it was her understanding that the name of the man she saw on the railing was “Robert.” Rafferty was the only member of the Fitz’s crew who had that first name. Johnson said she stayed in communication with that woman for a time. She said she also heard that in the weeks before the Fitz’s sinking, a small group gave a man who identified himself as “the cook of the Edmund Fitzgerald” a ride back to that ship from a business in Erie, Pa. Johnson said a member told her the group accompanied the cook onto the ship, where one of them sensed that something was very wrong with the vessel and became violently ill. They then left. Johnson said she has learned that as the ship sank, her father probably lived longer — and perhaps suffered longer — than most crew members because he worked in a part of the boat where the water would have taken longer to reach remaining pockets of air. But Johnson personally likes to think her father went to bed before the ship sank, and died while sleeping. She believes she will one day see him again. And sometimes, Johnson said, “I feel him around me.” She said she draws comfort from a dream in which she was approached by her father, wearing his trademark fedora. “I saw him getting off the ship, walking over on the water and coming to me and saying ‘Let it go. I’m OK.’ “So I let it go. He’s OK.”