12 Remarkable Facts About the S.S. ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’

On November 10, 1975, two ships navigated the turbulent waters of Lake Superior together. One was the Arthur M. Anderson, commanded by Captain Jesse Cooper. The other, under Captain Ernest McSorley, was the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald.

The last radar sighting of the ship occurred around 7:15 p.m. Tragically, all 29 crew members aboard were lost, and more than 40 years later, the cause of the most famous shipwreck in Great Lakes history remains unsolved.

Here’s what we do know about the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald and the tragic events of that fateful day.

1. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald held the title of the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

The massive cargo ships that navigated the five Great Lakes were known as lakers, and the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ever constructed at the time. Built as a 'maximum-sized' bulk carrier, it measured 729 feet in length, becoming the first laker to achieve such a size. The ship stood 39 feet tall, with a width of 75 feet, and weighed over 13,000 tons without cargo. It was launched on June 8, 1958, and made its maiden voyage on September 24 of the same year.

2. The ship was owned by an insurance company.

In 1957, the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse, Michigan, was hired by Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company to build the ship. The company had made substantial investments in the iron and minerals industries. With the creation of the Fitzgerald, Northwestern Mutual became the first American insurance company to construct its own ship, at a hefty cost of $8.4 million, which was the highest price for a freighter at that time, as noted in Michael Schumacher’s The Mighty Fitz.

3. The ship was named after the company's chairman.

The chairman of Northwestern Mutual had strong ties to the Great Lakes shipping industry. Edmund Fitzgerald’s grandfather was a captain on the lakes, his father owned a shipyard, and both had ships named in their honor. After the Fitzgerald was built, Northwestern Mutual placed its charter with the Columbia Transportation Division of Oglebay Norton Company, based in Cleveland.

4. The ship’s primary function was to transport iron ore.

Most lakers navigating the Great Lakes and connecting waterways transport vast quantities of raw materials like rock, salt, and grain. The Edmund Fitzgerald typically carried taconite, a low-grade iron ore, from mines along the shores of Minnesota to steel mills near Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.

5. The Fitzgerald was famous long before its tragic sinking.

The ship's enormous size made it a favorite of boat watchers, and over time, it earned several nicknames, including 'The Queen of the Great Lakes,' 'The Toledo Express,' and the more somber 'Titanic of the Great Lakes.' Spectators often gathered to watch the massive freighter pass through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The 'Soo' Locks, which link Lake Superior to Lake Huron, enabled the Fitzgerald to reach ports on the lower Great Lakes.

6. The ship encountered a deadly storm on Lake Superior.

November is an unforgiving month on the Great Lakes. Storms and hurricane-force winds can batter even the sturdiest freighters. On November 9, the Fitzgerald was loaded with 26,116 tons of iron ore pellets at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock in Superior, Wisconsin. It set sail at 2:30 p.m. A second vessel, the Arthur M. Anderson, trailed 10-15 miles behind the Fitzgerald as a precaution, and the two ships maintained radio communication until shortly after 7 p.m. on November 10.

The National Weather Service had issued gale warnings the day before, and by the morning of the 10th, these warnings were upgraded to an official storm alert.

As waves surged to 35 feet and winds reached nearly 100 mph, the ship contacted Coast Guard officials in Sault Ste. Marie, reporting that they were taking on water. Later, a blizzard blocked the Fitzgerald from the Anderson's radar, but Captain Ernest McSorley, who was on his final voyage before retirement, reassured a crew member on the Anderson at 7:10 p.m. that 'we are holding our own.' That was the last communication anyone had from McSorley or the Fitzgerald.

7. No distress signal was sent.

After that, the radar went silent. There was no radio contact. The ship was about 15 miles north of Whitefish Point when it appeared to vanish. Captain Cooper, aboard the Anderson, was in touch with the Coast Guard and arrived at Whitefish Point after 8 p.m., but there was no sign of the Fitzgerald. Later, the Anderson returned into the storm to search for the ship, but only found lifeboats and debris.

8. All 29 crew members perished.

In addition to the captain, the crew of the Fitzgerald included porters, oilers, engineers, maintenance workers, cooks, watchmen, deckhands, and wheelsmen. The majority of the crew hailed from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota.

9. There is still no conclusive explanation for the ship's sinking.

While the severe weather conditions are a clear contributing factor, experts disagree on the exact cause of the disaster. After the wreck, both the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that faulty cargo hatches were likely responsible for flooding. However, some propose other theories, including unsecured hatches, mechanical failures, massive waves, structural weaknesses, and even aliens. Great Lakes historian Frederick Stonehouse suggested that the ship may have struck a shoal, taking on too much water before sinking into Lake Superior.

10. The tragedy was immortalized by a Canadian folk musician.

Gordon Lightfoot, who had released 10 albums between 1966 and 1975, was inspired to pen the ballad 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' after reading an article about the disaster in Newsweek. He included the track on his 1976 album Summertime Dream, and the nearly six-minute single reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, becoming Lightfoot’s second-most successful hit. The third verse begins:

'The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound When the wave broke over the railing And every man knew, as the captain did too ‘Twas the witch of November come stealin’ -Gordon Lightfoot, 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' (1976)

11. Family members requested a symbolic memorial for the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard dispatched planes and cutters equipped with magnetic anomaly detectors, sidescan sonar, and sonar surveys to locate the wreckage. In May, a Navy underwater recovery vehicle was deployed to the site, and on May 20, 1976, the ship was found 535 feet below the surface of the lake.

Since then, only a few people have been able to view the wreck, which lies in two pieces. In 1995, a pair of divers descended to the site, the same year a crew—assisted by the Canadian Navy, the National Geographic Society, Sony, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians—retrieved the ship’s bell at the request of the families of those who perished. The Canadian government has since prohibited access to the site.

In this haunting archival footage, you can hear Captain Jesse Cooper of the Anderson communicating with the Coast Guard, alongside visuals of the wreck.

12. November 10 marks an annual day of remembrance.

Each year, the Edmund Fitzgerald memorial ceremony is held on November 10 at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. The restored bell, once recovered, tolls 29 times—once for each crew member of the Fitzgerald—and a 30th time for the estimated 30,000 sailors who have perished in the Great Lakes.

A version of this article was originally published in 2015; it has since been updated for 2022.