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Without the Song, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ May Have Been Largely Forgotten
Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 ballad has kept the memory of the Edmund Fitzgerald alive, marking 50 years since the ship sank with 29 crew lost on Lake Superior.
- On Nov. 10, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a violent storm on Lake Superior, with all 29 sailors lost and no distress call from Captain Ernest M. McSorley.
- On Nov. 9, 1975 the Fitzgerald departed Superior, Wisconsin carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore, while gale warnings had been issued that night; investigators cite storm, structural stress and unsecured hatches as possible causes.
- Lightfoot met with family members and altered lyrics at their request, and his band still performs the song, which he wrote after reading reports in 1975.
- This year, the 50th anniversary has driven renewed public interest, with the Great Lakes Historical Museum in Whitefish Point planning a Nov. 10 event and the bell tolled twenty-nine times while families hold a livestreamed ceremony.
- The Fitzgerald still rests 535 feet underwater about 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, protected as a Canadian grave-site, with families urging the wreck remain undisturbed.
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Without the song, 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' may have been largely forgotten
Without Gordon Lightfoot’s song, the Edmund Fitzgerald could have faded from memory along with the names of the roughly 6,500 other ships that went down in the Great Lakes before it.
·United States
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Family to head to 50 year memorial for victims of Edmund Fitzgerald sinking
SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — The eerie rhythm of the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was brought to America by Gordon Lightfoot in 1976, but the Riippa family was more directly connected to the tragedy that killed 29 men on Nov. 10,…
·Ashtabula, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources66
Leaning Left21Leaning Right7Center23Last UpdatedBias Distribution45% Center
Bias Distribution
- 45% of the sources are Center
45% Center
L 41%
C 45%
14%
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