US EditionFor whom the bell tolls: The 29 men lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald, 50 years ago
The memorial honored 29 lost mariners with a bell ringing and included family visits to the wreck site; the Fitzgerald remains the largest freighter lost on the Great Lakes.
- Sunday, Old Mariners' Church in Detroit hosted mariners, historians and family and friends to mark the 50th anniversary, attended by ship masters, bell ringers, Sea Cadets and boat club members.
- On Nov. 10, 2025, the freighter sank off Whitefish Point during a violent storm while bound for Zug Island, and a U.S. Coast Guard investigation determined improperly closed hatches allowed water in.
- The Rev. Todd Meyer said `It really has been a privilege to be the bearers of that responsibility, to ring the bell 29 times, and we give God all the glory to be able to it` as parishioners filled the pews.
- The shipwreck remains the largest freighter ever lost on the inland seas and is immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,'
- Relatives say families still lack a concrete answer about the sinking, and Scott Kuzma hopes commemorations will continue beyond the 50th anniversary, as the O'Brien family plans to visit Whitefish Island on Monday.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Bygones: Storm took Edmund Fitzgerald 50 years ago
News-Tribune, Nov. 11, 1925 An Iron River, Michigan, farmer presented a $75 bill to the village council to compensate him for a cow that died after eating moonshine mash it found in his neighborhood. E.C. Tyler, president of the council, declared he felt the man "had a right to complain." News-Tribune, Nov. 11, 1955 Organizers of the Young-Montana Co. said between 75,000 and 100,000 tons of iron ore would be mined next year southeast of Great Fa…
50 years later, the legacy of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald looms as large as ever
People are gathering at ceremonies around the Great Lakes this weekend to honor the memories of the 29 crew members who died a half-century ago on Nov. 10, 1975, when the Edmund Fitzgerald — the largest freighter on the Lakes at the time — sank during a ferocious storm on Lake Superior. Read more: 50 years later, the legacy of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald looms as large as ever
A Requiem For The SS Edmund Fitzgerald On The 50th Anniversary Of Its Infamous Sinking
SS Edmund Fitzgerald As “dudes rock’ moments go, there are few that are as universally agreed upon as the shared love of Gordon Lightfoot’s iconic folk rock ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The song, released in August of 1976, tells the haunting tale of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald just a year prior, as well as the incredible lore surrounding both the massive ship and the lake that took it down. But what of the boat itsel…
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