© Mandi Wright/Imagn
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 itself? Today, Nov. 10, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of the night that the massive shipping freighter sank on the waves of Lake Superior.
What Made The SS Edmund Fitzgerald So Famous?
Now, shipwrecks in general typically make for great songs, which is why there are so many of them. But the Edmund Fitzgerald wasn’t just another ship.
At 729-feet bow to stern, the Edmund Fitzgerald was an absolute unit of a lake freighter. In fact, it is among the largest and most well-known vessels lost on the Great Lakes, with numbers well up over 200 between the early 1800s and 1976, when it went under.
Why And Where Did It Sink?
November 9, 1975, Captain Ernest M. McSorley led a crew of 28 men on a journey from Superior, Wisconsin to a steel mill just off the coast of Detroit. The ship was carrying over 25,000 tons of iron ore and was being trailed for most of its journey by the SS Arthur M. Anderson, which was making a similar journey and was the last to contact the Edmund Fitzgerald before it sank and first to attempt a rescue.
It was 50 years ago today the Edmund Fitzgerald set out on her doomed trek across Lake Superior. Slide through our detailed images looking back at her final voyage. 🛎️🛎️ pic.twitter.com/M1hAfPscAG
— Visit Sault Ste. Marie (@VisitTheSault) November 9, 2025
Despite a relatively calm weather forecast, huge gale-force winds swept across Lake Superior, and McSorley altered his course north to attempt to avoid the storm.
According to reports, winds reached up to 60 miles per hour and waves were over 10 feet high on the morning the wreck. When snow began to fall, the Arthur M. Anderson lost sight of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Later in the afternoon, McSorley radioed the Arthur M. Anderson to report that the Edmund Fitzgerald was taking on water and had begun to lose structural integrity. Shortly after, the ship’s radar failed.
The Arthur M. Anderson eventually caught up to the Edmund Fitzgerald and attempted to guide it to safety. However, the Whitefish Bay lighthouse and navigation beacon, where they were heading, had already failed.
By late afternoon, the situation had become dire. The Arthur M. Anderson lost track of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was now facing winds over 80 miles per hour and waves over 35 feet high.
At 7:10 p.m. on Nov. 10, McSorley radioed in that they were holding their own. However, that was the last radio transmission anyone received.
What Became Of The Edmund Fitzgerald?
The Captain of the Arthur M. Anderson alerted the U.S. Coast Guard at 7:39 p.m. that he had not heard from McSorley. Meanwhile, a further northbound ship, the Nanfri, reported similar.
Petty Officer Philip Branch of the USCG later testified, “I considered it serious, but at the time it was not urgent.”
Around 9 p.m. the Coast Guard asked the Arthur M. Anderson to turn around and look for survivors, as it did not have the proper equipment or manpower to operate a search-and-rescue mission.
Over the next three days, several ships, including the Canadian Coast Guard, as well as a USCG rescue plain, sought out the ship.
The searchers found debris, including lifeboats and rafts. However, none of the crew were found.
On the fourth day, a U.S. Navy aircraft used a magnetic anomaly detector to find the wrecked vessel at a depth of 530 feet in Canadian waters. The ship remains there today.
A later dive by the U.S. Navy showed that the ship had broken almost completely in half.
There are, to this day, several theories as to why the ship sank. Some blame rogue waves that filled the deck with too much water. Others believe improperly sealed cargo holds led to flooding, while the National Weather Service believes that waves and high winds caused the ship to roll unnaturally, sending it onto its side and eventually underwater.
While Lightfoot’s song memorializes the sinking and is most responsible for its fame, the disaster remains one of the most widely debated among ship enthusiasts and is, to this day, one of the largest naval disasters on the Great Lakes in modern history.