Remembering the Tragic Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Today marks the 48th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a freighter that went down in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, claiming 29 lives. The ship's sinking has become legendary, partly due to Gordon Lightfoot's popular song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." The vessel was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes when it was christened in 1958 and was named after Edmund Fitzgerald, president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. The ship encountered severe storms and sank about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point. The cause of the sinking remains a subject of speculation and theories.