Few people that are from the Great Lakes and were around in the 1970s can forget the anniversary of this day….for this was the day the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, on Nov. 10, 1975, in Lake Superior.
Even though I was just 6 years old I well remember the news and the mood of people all around,
There were 29 members of the crew that went down in winds of hurricane force — of 75 miles per hour — raised waves to 25 feet in 42-degree weather.
All that was found in the immediate rescue efforts were an oil slick, two lifeboats, a life raft and other debris (including some orange life jackets), with some washing up on the Canadian shore 13 miles to the northeast.
The vessel was loaded with about 26,000 tons of taconite pellets at Superior, Wis., and was bound for Detroit.
For the complete story here is the Wikipedia page on it. But I would rather direct you to the page dedicated to the incident itself, with tributes to the crew, etc.
The day after the wreck, the Mariner’s Church in Detroit rang its bell 29 times; once for each life lost. The church continued to hold an annual memorial, reading the names of the crewmen and ringing the church bell, until 2006 when the church broadened its memorial ceremony to commemorate all lives lost on the Great Lakes. It si truly a haunting service if you ever get a chance to attend I suggest you do.
The names of those lost were as follows: