Remembering the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

November 10, 2011 by doughelton | 2 Comments

The S/S Edmund Fitzgerald. Credit: NOAA.

Today, November 10, is the anniversary of the wreck of the S/S Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest shipwreck in the Great Lakes. The ship and entire crew of 29 men were lost in a storm on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. I remember listening to Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 hit song [leaves this blog] about the wreck, and it still catches my attention when I hear it playing.

The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a ship measuring 729 feet long and 26,000 tons, is one of the most well-known disasters in the history of Great Lakes shipping. The ship’s remains lie just over the border in Canadian waters at a depth of 530 feet.

Over the years many ships have sunk in the Great Lakes, and the region is home to a number of maritime museums. NOAA’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary [leaves this blog] in Lake Huron helps preserve and protect the maritime history of the lakes and is home to dozens of shipwrecks, some of which you can now explore online in 3-D [leaves this blog].

My connection to the Edmund Fitzgerald comes from my work on historic ships that may still pose a threat of oil pollution. The ship was designed to carry taconite (iron ore) pellets, but it carried fuel oil for its engines.

Based on the condition and damage of the ship’s hull and the large heaps of taconite around the wreckage, it is unlikely to contain much oil, but we have the ship in our database of potentially polluting wrecks.

The Edmund Fitzgerald is a reminder that our maritime history is not limited to the marine waters. The Great Lakes are very much a coastline (and shipping hub) of the United States, and just like along our salt water shorelines, NOAA is active in charting, weather, research, and coastal management there as well.