12 Memorable Facts About the S.S. ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’

On November 10, 1975, two ships made their way side by side through the stormy waters of Lake Superior. He was one Arthur M. AndersonCommanded by Captain Jesse Cooper. The other, led by Ernest McSorley, was ss Edmund Fitzgerald.

The ship was last seen on radar at approximately 7:15 p.m., and all 29 men on board were missing. Today, five decades after the most devastating accident, Famous shipwreck In the history of the Great Lakes region, the reason remains puzzle.

Here’s what we know about SS Edmund FitzgeraldAnd what happened on that fateful day.

1. ss Edmund Fitzgerald It was the largest ship on the Great Lakes.
2. The ship was owned by the insurance company.
3. It is named after the company’s president.
4. The ship’s main mission was to transport iron ore.
5. the Fitz It was known even before it sank.
6. The ship ran into a deadly storm on Lake Superior.
7. No distress signal was sent.
8. All 29 crew members died.
9. There is still no specific explanation for the sinking.
10. The tragedy was immortalized by a Canadian folk singer.
11. Family members have requested a symbolic SS memorial Edmund Fitzgerald.
12. There is an annual Remembrance Day on November 10.

ss Edmund Fitzgerald It was the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

The large cargo ships plying the five Great Lakes were known as Lakers and SS Edmund Fitzgerald It was, at that time, Largest ever built. It was Constructed As a “maximum size” bulk carrier, it extended 729 feet, the first lake to reach that length. It is 39 feet high and 75 feet wide, and weighs more than 13,000 tons unladen. The ship was christened on June 8, 1958, and made its maiden voyage on September 24 of the same year.

The ship was owned by the insurance company.

Great Lakes Engineering Works was in Ecorse, Michigan Contracting The ship was built in 1957 by Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company, which invested heavily in the iron and metal industries. With assignment FitzgeraldNorthwestern Mutual became the first U.S. insurance company to build its own ship at a cost of $8.4 million, the most expensive price for a cargo ship at the time, according to Michael Schumacher. Great Fitz.

It is named after the company’s president.

The president of Northwestern Mutual has a long history in the Great Lakes shipping industry. Edmund Fitzgerald’s grandfather was a ship captain on the Lakes, his father owned a shipyard, and both had ships named to their names. After building Fitzgerald It was complete, Northwestern Mutual placed Its charter is with the Columbia transportation division of Oglebay Norton, headquartered in Cleveland.

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The ship’s main mission was to transport iron ore.

Most lake dwellers crossing the Great Lakes and their connected waterways carry vast quantities of raw materials such as rocks, salt, and grains. the Edmund Fitzgerald Generally loaded Taconitelow-grade iron ore, from mines on the beaches of Minnesota and transporting pellets to steel mills near Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.

the Fitz It was known even before it sank.

Its impressive size has made the ship popular with boat watchers, and over the years it has attracted many Nicknamesincluding “Queen of the Great Lakes,” “Toledo Express,” and “Unfortunate.”Titanic Great Lakes region.” Crowds will see the huge freighter Move Through the locks in Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Sioux Locks, which connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron, allow water to enter Fitz To reach ports in the lower Great Lakes region.

The ship ran into a deadly storm on Lake Superior.

November is a brutal month on the Great Lakes. Frequent storms and high winds can batter even the strongest cargo ships. On November 9, Fitz It was loaded with 26,116 tons of iron ore pellets at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock in Superior, Wisconsin. It departed at 2:30 pm and the second ship departed, namely Arthur M. Andersonsail 10-15 miles behind Fitzgerald As a precaution, the two ships remained in radio contact until seven o’clock in the evening on November 10.

There were storm warnings Issued by the National Weather Service the previous day, and by the morning of November 10, the warnings had been upgraded to an official storm warning.

With waves reaching 35 feet and winds gusting nearly 100 miles per hour, the ship sank. He has been contacted Coast Guard officials in Sault Ste. Mary said they were drinking water. Later, A blizzard Blocking Fitz on Andersonradar, but Captain Ernest McSorley, who was on his radar last Journey before retirement, a crew member confirmed Anderson 7:10 pm”We keep to ourselvesThat was the last anyone heard from McSorley or… Fitzgerald.

No distress signal was sent.

And then there was nothing on the radar. no Radio connection. The ship was about 15 miles north of Whitefish Point when it apparently disappeared. Captain Cooper, on Andersonhad been in contact with the Coast Guard and arrived at Whitefish Point sometime after 8 p.m. with no sign or word from Fitzgerald. later, Anderson She returned to the storm to search for the ship, but found only a pair of lifeboats and wreckage.

All 29 crew members died.

Along with the captain and other crew members Fitzgerald Included Porters, oilmen, engineers, maintenance workers, cooks, guards, deckhands, and wheel drivers. Most of the crew were from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota.

There is still no specific explanation for the sinking.

Treacherous weather conditions are an obvious factor, but experts disagree on what specifically they believe caused the accident. After the wreck, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board agreed that the tragedy was likely caused by faulty cargo hatches, which led to flooding. Some hold other theories, including unsecured vents, maintenance issues, massive waves, structural issues, and yes, even… Aliens. Author and Great Lakes historian Frederick Stonehouse theorized that the ship likely struck a shoal and absorbed a lot of water before sinking below the surface of Lake Superior.

The tragedy was immortalized by a Canadian folk singer.

Gordon Lightfoot, who released 10 albums from 1966 to 1975, was inspired to write the song “Shipwreck.” Edmund Fitzgerald“After reading an article about the tragedy in… Newsweek. He included the song in 1976 Album Summer dreamthe nearly six-minute single reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 that year and became Lightfoot’s second most successful song. The third verse begins:

“The wind in the wires made a chattering sound
When the wave broke over the fence
And everyone knew, and so did the captain
“The November Witch has come to steal.”

Family members have requested a symbolic SS memorial Edmund Fitzgerald.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard deployed aircraft and cutters equipped with magnetic anomaly detectors, side-scan sonar, and scanning sonar to find the wreckage. In May, a Navy underwater recovery vehicle was sent to the site, and on May 20, 1976, the ship was returned to the site. spotted 535 feet below the surface of the lake.

In the decades that followed, only a few people were able to see the wreckage that lay therein Two pieces. A pair of divers made their way to the bottom in 1995, the same year the crew arrived — with help from the Canadian Navy, the National Geographic Society, Sony, and Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians – recovered the ship’s bell At the request of families Of those lost. The Canadian government has since Access blocked To the site.

In the bizarre archive video above, you can hear it Anderson Captain Jesse Cooper contacts the Coast Guard and watches video of the wreck.

There is an annual Remembrance Day on November 10.

Annual Edmund Fitzgerald The anniversary ceremony will be held on November 10 at Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum At Whitefish Point. The restored and recovered bell is rung 29 times for each member of the group FitzgeraldThe ship’s crew, the 30th of an estimated 30,000 sailors lost in the Great Lakes region. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the shipwreck this year, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society will hold a conference Two memorialsOne public and one private.

A version of this article was published in 2015; Updated for 2025.