MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN — Spend enough time along the shores of Lake Superior and it won’t be long before there’s some reminder of what happened “when the November storms came early.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the shipwreck Edmund FitzgeraldIt is the largest and most famous of the estimated 6,500 ships that sank in the Great Lakes region. But Fitzgerald is remembered while others are forgotten, thanks in large part to… Gordon Lightfoot A haunting 1976 ballad that became a surprise hit.
The Fitzgerald, a 730-foot-long freighter named after a Milwaukee insurance company executive, fell into Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. All 29 men on board died.
The Fitz, as it is still called, was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when it was launched in 1958 and held that title until 1971.
On its final voyage, the Fitzgerald departed Superior, Wisconsin, on November 9, 1975, carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore along a familiar route to Zug Island in Detroit.
Oliver “Buck” Shambaugh, 41, was making his first outing in “The Mighty Fitz.”
The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and experienced sailor was attracted by the higher pay that time of year because of the increased risk, recalls his daughter, Debbie Gomez Felder, who was 17 at the time.
“It was an honor to be on board the Fitzgerald,” said Gomez-Feelder, speaking at her home outside Milwaukee decorated with photos of her father and paintings of the famous ship.
Most of the crew were born and lived in states bordering the Great Lakes, such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota.
Captain Ernest M. McSorley, 63, 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.
McSorley chose a northern route across Lake Superior to be protected by the highlands along the Canadian shore. Storm warnings were issued on the night of November 9. Those warnings escalated to storm warnings in the early morning of November 10.
The crew of the nearby Arthur Anderson, trailing 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 I received from anyone on the plane.
Gomez-Fielder said she was called out of class the next day and told to go home immediately. Her mother told her that Fitzgerald was missing.
“I was knocking on doors at St. Michael’s Church, the church I grew up in, and I wanted answers from one of the priests about how this happened,” Gomez-Felder said. “I don’t get it.”
There are several theories as to why the Fitzgerald sank so quickly without a distress call, but the exact cause remains unknown.
Even without an answer, the wreck led to many “astonishing” safety improvements, said Frederick Stonehouse, whose 1977 book “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was the first of dozens written about the tragedy.
While a similar-sized ship had been lost in the lakes every six or seven years before the Fitzgerald, there had been no sinking since then, he said.
“Every Great Lakes sailor who sails today owes a great deal of gratitude to Fitzgerald,” said Stonehouse, who taught Great Lakes maritime history at Northern Michigan University, located on the shores 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) northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. No bodies were recovered.
The wreck is protected as a grave site under Canadian law, a status that family members including Gomez-Fielder have lobbied for. Unauthorized diving or retrieval of artifacts is prohibited.
Gomez-Felder said she wants the wreckage – and the bodies buried inside – to remain undisturbed.
Events are held in the Great Lakes region every year to remember murdered men and reunite with their family members, and organizers say the 50th anniversary has pushed public interest to a new peak.
The Great Lakes Historical Museum at Whitefish Point is planning a public event on Nov. 10. A separate ceremony will be broadcast for the crew’s families only. The Edmund Fitzgerald Bell, which was recovered in 1995 at the request of the crew’s family members, was placed there as a permanent memorial.
Bruce Lane, executive director of the Great Lake Shipwreck Historical Society, said the museum is on track to have its busiest year ever on its 50th anniversary.
“When we remember the Fitzgerald, I like to think that at the same time we remember all those other sunken ships,” he said.
The wreck is also remembered in Detroit at Mariners Chapel, where University President Richard Ingalls is located The bell rang 29 times in honor of the crew after receiving word in the predawn hours of November 11, 1975, that the Fitzgerald had sunk.
The ringing of the bell helped spread news of what had happened and Lightfoot brought it to life when he sang “Ring the church bell till it rang twenty-nine times.”
In 2023, after Lightfoot’s death, they rang the bell for the 30th time. The bell will also be rung 30 times this year on the anniversary, with the final tally representing all sailors lost on the Great Lakes.
On this 50th anniversaryGomez-Feelder said she wants people to remember the loved ones of the Fitzgerald crew.
“It took me a while to realize he wasn’t coming back,” Gomez-Felder said of her father. “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 took comfort in traveling to Whitefish Point every year to be with other families, and for the past 30 years, she has rung the Fitzgerald Bell in memory of her father and others who have died.
“It was the closest thing to my father,” she said. “This is the soul of the ship.”
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Associated Press reporter Isabella Vollmert contributed to this report from Lansing, Michigan.