42 years ago on November 10, 1075, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank into the icy waters of Lake Superior. All 29 crewmen were lost. Here is a haunting video which includes footage of the ship, newscasts of the tragedy and the song “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot.
When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America’s Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.
The exact cause of the sinking remains unknown, though many studies, and expeditions have done research in years past. Theories about the Fitzgerald’s sinking include, having been swamped, structural failure, topside damage, been shoaled, or a combination of all of these, because of a severe storm on Lake Superior. The storm had hurricane-force winds and waves up to 35 feet (11 m) high.
This disaster is one of the best-known in the history of Great Lakes shipping.
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