Before I met him, I would see him from our 4th floor apartment window, working around his house or working on cars or cutting up an old tree that had started coming down in pieces. Before I met him, I heard him cussing like an old sailor. It turns out that is what he was. And it also turns out that he would become a good friend.
We are about the same age and about the same height and weight. We share the same conservative world view (Don established that at the get go. He doesn't suffer liberal fools lightly...or at all, for that matter). And we both enjoy reading and talking, especially about history.
He was born in a working man's neighborhood in Quincy, MA to Robert and Mary. Don has two brothers and a sister, and he loved his parents fiercely. He went to Abbington High School where he distinguished himself in student government and athletics graduating in 1970.
He was also a good student and was appointed to The Massachusetts Maritime Academy, graduating in 1974, President of his class, with a degree in Marine Engineering. Don football and lacrosse at the Academy. His nickname was Mad Dog. He liked to hit people.
His first job after graduation was as a junior Engineer on the Great Lakes...on the Edmond Fitzgerald.
The SS Edmond Fitzgerald was the pride of the Great Lakes. She had many nicknames; The Fitz or Mighty Fitz, Pride of the American Side, and The Titanic of the Great Lakes. When launched in 1958 she was the largest ship on the NA Great Lakes. The Fitz was 13,623 GRT, 729 feet long and 75 feet wide. She could haul a maximum load of 25,500 tons, built to haul taconite, smelted iron ore pellets, from Duluth to Detroit and other destinations.
Don worked on the Edmond Fitzgerald for three months. And then he was bumped due to union seniority. A senior man took his position. It was a fortuitous event in his life. Shortly thereafter, The Fitz sank in heavy seas with all 29 hands lost. Here is a YouTube video of Gordon Lightfoot's song "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald".
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot (HD w/ Lyrics) - YouTube
Don says the hatch covers were typically poorly secured and, in heavy seas, some were torn free. Water flooded the cargo hold and the four big bilge pumps were likely fouled with iron ore silt. On November 10, 1975, fully loaded and heavy with water, in near hurricane force wind, with 35-foot waves, the Fitz broke in half and sank within minutes. The Fitz had made 748 round trips, over 8 million miles. Don says he knew all the men lost that night. He calls himself the sole survivor of the Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald though there are undoubtedly others who can make that claim. But none who were onboard that ship that ill-fated night.
Don went on to a long and colorful career aboard "steamboats". He travelled the world on huge freighters and climbed the ranks to Chief Engineer. It changed him, made him hard. I could relate from my 25 years in the paper industry. It's hard to see the changes as they are taking place. But is the price you pay.
When it was time to come off the seas, he continued his career as Chief Engineer with large companies like Dennison and ran the power plants at Harvard and MIT.
I love listening to his sea stories. They are, at times, other worldly, something that cannot be understood without experiencing them. I especially enjoy his stories about his shipmates, a motley, colorful and dysfunctional crew from around the globe.
Connie and I to stayed with him at his cottage on a lake in NH this past summer. We played his extensive 70s and 80s record collection late into the night. A good time. Connie loves him. And so do my grandkids.
Recently his daughter, named Katie, like my daughter, gave birth to his granddaughter. He is cautiously entering into the role of grandfather. A lot to learn. A lot of unfamiliar emotions. Last week he taught me how to change brake shoes and rotors on Katie and Elnur's 2017 Subaru. He has all the tools. And we try to repay his kindness with homecooked food and tech support.
It's nice to have a new, old friend.
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