In one of the biggest tragedies in Great Lakes maritime history 51 years ago today, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald disappeared beneath the waters of Lake Superior during a powerful November storm with waves reaching 20 feet and all 29 crew members perished. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society is marking the anniversary at Whitefish Point, Michigan with a private memorial ceremony at 7 p.m. for surviving family members that will be livestreamed.
Launched in 1958, the vessel was at 729 feet the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she entered service. She spent 17 years hauling iron ore across the lakes to the region’s steel mills. On her final voyage, the Fitzgerald, commanded by Capt. Ernest M. McSorley, was accompanied across Lake Superior by the freighter Arthur M. Anderson.
The historical society comments that the legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the most mysterious and controversial of all shipwreck tales heard around the Great Lakes. Her story is surpassed in books, film and media only by that of the Titanic. Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot inspired popular interest in this vessel with his 1976 ballad, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
The Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with her entire crew of 29 men on Lake Superior November 10, 1975, 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. Whitefish Point is the site of the Whitefish Point Light Station and Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) has conducted three underwater expeditions to the wreck, 1989, 1994, and 1995.
Fitzgerald’s 200 lb. bronze bell was recovered on July 4, 1995. This expedition was conducted jointly with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, National Geographic Society, Canadian Navy, Sony Corporation, and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The bell is now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point as a memorial to her lost crew.
About the Ship
The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was conceived as a business enterprise of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Northwestern Mutual contracted with Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan to construct a “maximum sized” Great Lakes bulk carrier. Her keel was laid on August 7, 1957 as Hull No. 301.
Named after the President and Chairman of the Board of Northwestern Mutual, Fitzgerald was launched June 8, 1958 at River Rouge, Michigan. Northwestern Mutual placed her under permanent charter to the Columbia Transportation Division of Oglebay Norton Company, Cleveland, Ohio. At 729 feet and 13,632 gross tons she was the largest ship on the Great Lakes, for thirteen years, until 1971.
The Fitzgerald’s normal course during her productive life took her between Silver Bay, Minnesota, where she loaded taconite, to steel mills on the lower lakes in the Detroit and Toledo area. She was usually empty on her return trip to Silver Bay. On November 9, 1975 Fitzgerald was to transport a load of taconite from Superior, Wisconsin, to Zug Island, Detroit, Michigan.
(Photo from US Army Corps of Engineers)