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spend ample time on the beaches of Lake Superior And it wouldn’t be long before the “storms of November came early” with some reminder of what had happened.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was the largest and most famous of the estimated 6,500 ships that sank. great LakesBut Fitzgerald is remembered while others are forgotten, thanks largely to Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 haunting folktale that became a surprise hit.
After whom is the 730-foot long cargo ship Fitzgerald named? milwaukee Insurance company executive, drowned in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. All 29 people on board died.
‘A team and a good captain, experienced’
The Fitz, as it is still affectionately called, was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when launched in 1958 and retained that title until 1971.
On her final voyage, Fitzgerald departed Superior, Wisconsin on November 9, 1975, carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore via a familiar route to Zug Island. detroit,
Oliver “Buck” Champeau, 41, was making his first trip on “The Mighty Fitz.”
Daughter Debbie Gomez-Felder, who was 17 at the time, recalls that U.S. Marine veterans and experienced sailors received higher pay at that time of year because of the increased risk.
“It was an honor to be on the Fitzgerald,” Gomez-Felder said, speaking at her home outside Milwaukee decorated with images of her father and paintings of the famous ship.
Most of the crew members were born and lived in Wisconsin, a state bordering the Great Lakes. michiganOhio and Minnesota.
The captain, 63-year-old Ernest M. McSorley, intended to retire after the 1975 season. He was known for his ability to navigate storms on the Great Lakes, but the storm that struck on November 10 was unlike any he had encountered.
‘When waves turn minutes into hours’
McSorley chose a northern route across Lake Superior to be protected by the highlands along the Canadian coast. A gale warning was issued on the night of November 9. The storm warning became worse on the morning of November 10.
The crew of the nearby Arthur Anderson, which was chasing the Fitz, reported waves as high as 25 feet. The first mate radioed McSorley, who reported that the Fitz had been damaged by the storm.
“We’re holding our own,” McSorley said. That was the last message received from anyone aboard the ship.
Gomez-Felder said she was called out of class the next day and told to go home immediately. His mother tells him that Fitzgerald is missing.
“I was banging on the doors of St. Michael’s Church, our home church where I grew up, and looking for answers from a priest about how this could happen,” Gomez-Felder said. “I don’t understand it.”
‘And all that’s left are faces and names’
There are many theories as to what caused the Fitzgerald to sink so rapidly without any distress call, but the exact cause is unknown.
Even without answers, the wreck inspired many “incredible” safety improvements, said Frederick Stonehouse, whose 1977 book “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was the first of dozens of books written about the tragedy.
He said, while before the Fitzgerald a similar-sized ship was lost in the lakes every six or seven years, no ship has gone down since.
“Every sailor sailing on the Great Lakes today owes a great debt of gratitude to Fitzgerald,” said Stonehouse, who teaches maritime history of the Great Lakes at Northern Michigan University, located on the shore of Lake Superior.
The Fitzgerald still lies at the bottom of Lake Superior submerged in 535 feet of water, about 17 miles (27.36 kilometers) north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. No body has been recovered.
The wreck is protected as a burial site under Canadian law, a position lobbied for by family members including Gomez-Felder. Unauthorized diving or retrieval of artifacts is prohibited.
Gomez-Felder said she wanted the debris – and the bodies buried in it – to remain untouched.
‘The legend lives on’
Every year, events around the Great Lakes commemorate those killed and reunite their family members, and organizers say the 50th anniversary has taken public interest to a new peak.
The Great Lakes Historical Museum in Whitefish Point plans a public event for Nov. 10. A separate ceremony will be livestreamed just for the families of the crew. Edmund Fitzgerald’s bell, which was retrieved in 1995 at the request of the crew’s family members, is placed there as a permanent memorial.
Bruce Lynn, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, said the museum is on track to have its busiest year ever for the 50th anniversary.
“When we remember the Fitzgerald, I like to think that at the same time we’re remembering all those other shipwrecks,” he said.
The wreck is also commemorated at the Mariners’ Church in Detroit, where Rector Richard Ingalls rang the bell 29 times in honor of the crew at dawn on November 11, 1975, after receiving the news that the Fitzgerald had sunk.
The bell ringing helped spread the word about what had happened and was commemorated by Lightfoot when she sang “The church bell rang until it had rung twenty-nine times.”
In 2023, after Lightfoot’s death, he rang the bell for the 30th time. The bell will also be rung 30 times on the anniversary this year, with the final toll representing all sailors lost on the Great Lakes.
‘Friends, nice to know you’
On this 50th anniversary, Gomez-Felder said she wants people to remember the loved ones of the Fitzgerald crew.
Gomez-Felder said of her father, “It took me a while to recognize that he wasn’t coming back.” “He won’t be here for my wedding, he won’t see me graduate, he won’t walk me down the aisle. He’s gone.”
She has found solace in traveling to Whitefish Point each year to be with other families and for the past 30 years by ringing the Fitzgerald bell in memory of her father and others who have died.
“He was the closest thing I had to a father,” she said. “He is the soul of the ship.”
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Associated Press reporter Isabella Vollmert contributed to this report from Lansing, Michigan.