New Memorial Marks 50th Anniversary of Loss of Edmund Fitzgerald
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The tragic loss of bulk carrier Edmund Fitzgerald <\/em>is set to be permanently engraved in a marker, five decades after it sank with the loss of all hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the\u00a0SS Edmund Fitzgerald\u00a0<\/em>on Lake Superior, a group in Superior, Wisconsin, called\u00a0the Friends of the Fitz is seeking to raise $7,000 to purchase a Wisconsin Historical Society marker to honor the bulker and her crew.<\/p>\n The marker would be installed on Barkers Island, since\u00a0Superior was the last port of call for\u00a0Edmund Fitzgerald. <\/em>The story of the vessel’s loss is a maritime legend in the Great Lakes: <\/em>the\u00a0bulker\u00a0sank on the evening of November 10, 1975, during a particularly rough storm on Lake Superior. There were no survivors amongst the ship\u2019s 29 crew.<\/p>\n Plans to erect the marker come days after Superior Mayor Jim Paine proclaimed 2025 as the \u201cYear of the Fitz\u201d, setting the stage for commemorative events to remember the sinking of the ship, which was a constant presence on Lake Superior for 17 years. Her wreck is located some 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan.<\/p>\n Built in 1958, the 729-foot-long\u00a0Edmund Fitzgerald\u00a0<\/em>was the largest and fastest Great Lakes ship of her era. Sometimes called the Mighty Fitz or Big Fitz, the ship set multiple records for the largest season-hauls and was the first lake freighter built to the maximum St. Lawrence Seaway size. The vessel had a capacity of 26,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n During her productive life of service,\u00a0Edmund Fitzgerald<\/em>\u00a0carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo and other Great Lakes ports. Her tragic sinking occurred in 1975 after embarking on a voyage from Superior, Wisconsin, near Duluth carrying a full cargo of ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command.<\/p>\n On November 10, the ship was caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior, with near hurricane-force winds and waves up to 35 feet (11 meters). In these extreme conditions, she took on water and sank quickly, with the loss of all hands.\u00a0Investigators were later determined that the probable cause of the accident was the sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many memorials out there and ways that other communities have remembered their real part in the\u00a0Edmund Fitzgerald\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0history and Superior is no different,\u201d said Jenny Van Sickle, Superior City Councilor. \u201cSo the Friends of the Fitz are raising money in order to purchase and install our own official marker here in Superior.\u201d<\/p>\n The historical marker will be another piece of artifact that will help keep the memories of\u00a0Edmund Fitzgerald<\/em>\u00a0and her crew alive for decades. It will join the ship\u2019s 200-pound bronze bell, which was recovered in July 1995 and is now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. The ship\u2019s bow anchor\u00a0is on display at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t
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