The Edmund Fitzgerald was made famous by Gordon Lightfoot when he published the song “The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” 18 years after the ship sank. In the song by Gordon Lightfoot, “the disaster was blamed in part on the "Witch of November," which is the source of memorable and fierce storms on the Great Lakes” (Rice 2015). The wreck was first discovered 1 year after the ship sank. According to the article, The Edmund Fitzgerald, “The legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the most mysterious and controversial of all shipwreck tales heard around the Great Lakes. Her story is surpassed in books, film and media only by that of the Titanic.”
|
The Edmund Fitzgerald first set off on June 8, 1958 in Michigan. Until 1971, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes at the time, weighing 13,632 gross tons and stretching a massive 729 feet. According to the article About the Ship, ”The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was conceived as a business enterprise of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Northwestern Mutual contracted with Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan to construct a “maximum sized” Great Lakes bulk carrier. Her keel was laid on August 7, 1957 as Hull No. 301.” The ship was named after the President and chairman of Northwestern Mutual. On November 10, 1975 a fierce storm arose and the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, in Lake Superior, killing all 29 men on board.
|