Today in History

Today in 1975 the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior about 17 miles from Whitefish Bay. All 29 crew members aboard died in a sinking that most likely took less then 10 minutes. Although many boats have sunk in the Great Lakes, it was the largest, most famous, and it remains a mystery exactly what happened. It is the largest as the boat was the biggest boat in the Great Lakes until the ‘70’s measuring 729 feet long and able to hold 26,600 tons of cargo. It is the most famous in large part to the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot. If you live in the Great Lakes area or listen to a folk, country, classic rock, or mix of music radio station you can hear the song today by turning a radio on. (If outside the Great Lakes area, you may need to request it, if in side the area it may be played up to once every hour.) This song was at #2 on pop charts in 1976. And for a pop song contains few historic inacursies. The main ones are that the boat was headed to Detroit, the church in the song is actually called “The Mariners’ Church of Detroit”, the old cook wasn’t on the boat and his replacement was a young man, the captain didn’t call in, and they winds were not due to hurricanes or at hurricane levels. Mainly small changes that help make it easier to sing, or more interesting. It is also used in other songs about it, including a musical and there is a beer named after it. It is still a mystery what happened to it, even after finding the ship as important parts of the boat can’t be viewed with how it is laying on the lake bed, and even if they could move it out of the water it will not be done as it is a burial place for all the men in the ship. There are a few theories on what happened. At first it was thought that the huge boat snapped in two and then sank; however, after finding the boat it showed that although in two pieces, the pieces are too close together for that to be likely. It is also thought that the hatches were leaking, letting in water. Or that due to there radar being out they ran aground without knowing it and water got in that way. Reasontly the Discovery Channel has suggested that a set of freak waves damaged the hatch covers and sank the ship. This ship is also so important of a wreak as it happened only 32 years ago, the wives and/or children of the crew are still alive. In fact the reason that you don’t hear the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” that much in TV or movies is that Lightfoot gave the rights to the song to all 29 families of the crew making it hard the get permission to use it. Also in 2005 there were efforts to make November 10th “Great Lakes Mariners Day” to honor all that died on the Great Lakes. For the lyrics to the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” click here.