http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...king/18714401/
The entire crew of 29 died when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975.
The ship, which early that morning had reported winds of 52 knots and 10-foot-high waves, was mere miles away from safe harbor when it went down.
The 17-year-old freighter — more than 700 feet long and more than 13,600-plus gross tons — was, until 1971, the largest ship plying the Great Lakes, according to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum's Web site. The Edmund Fitzgerald ferried Taconite to Detroit- and Toledo-area steel mills. On its ill-fated final trip, it was taking more than 26,000 tons of the pellets from Superior, Wis., to Zug Island.
Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the accident in his 1976 hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." The song ends with the lyrics, "The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down/of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee/Superior, they said, never gives up her dead/when the gales of November come early."
In 2011, he changed some of the words, as not to imply that the sinking was the crew's fault. The edit was from "At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said, 'Fellas, it's been good to know ya' " to "At 7 p.m., it grew dark, it was then he said, 'Fellas it's been good to know ya.' "
Contact Zlati Meyer: 313-223-4439 or
zmeyer@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @ZlatiMeyer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A
39 years ago- The Edmund Fitzgerald sank
