51 Years Later, the Edmund Fitzgerald and Her 29 Lost Mariners Are Remembered

Fifty-one years ago today, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald disappeared beneath the waters of Lake Superior during a powerful November storm, taking all 29 crew members with her in one of the most enduring tragedies in Great Lakes maritime history.

The 729-foot freighter sank on November 10, 1975, about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. No distress call was issued, no survivors were found, and the exact circumstances of her final moments remain a subject of debate more than half a century later.

On Tuesday, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society will mark the 51st anniversary with a private memorial ceremony for surviving family members and others connected to the ship and its crew. The 7 p.m. ceremony at Whitefish Point will be livestreamed.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was among the largest and best-known freighters operating on the Great Lakes when she departed Superior, Wisconsin, on November 9, 1975, carrying more than 26,000 long tons of taconite iron ore pellets bound for Detroit.

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