The bitter winds of November sweep across Lake Superior, carrying with them echoes of one of the most haunting tragedies in Great Lakes history. As the 50th anniversary of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking approaches on November 10, 2025, communities throughout the Northland and beyond are preparing to remember the loss of all 29 crew members who vanished in a furious blizzard nearly half a century ago. The Edmund Fitzgerald, once the largest freighter on the Great Lakes, has become a symbol of both maritime ambition and the unforgiving power of nature.
Seventeen miles off Whitefish Point, Michigan, the Fitzgerald met its fate on a stormy night in 1975. According to reporting from Sun Media, the ship went down during a blizzard, leaving no survivors. The disaster unfolded swiftly, and despite the efforts of other vessels on Lake Superior that night, none could alter the course of history. As Dennis Anderson recounted in a Lift retrospective for the 30th anniversary, the weather conditions that night were nothing short of treacherous, with gale-force winds and mountainous waves battering the ship and her crew.
This year, the 50th anniversary is being marked with a series of commemorations and retrospectives. WOOD TV+ has announced a special program, “The Fitz: 50 Years Later,” set to air at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10. In the days leading up to the anniversary, a series of stories will explore not only the events of that fateful night but also the enduring legacy of the vessel and the man whose name it bore.
Edmund Fitzgerald, the ship’s namesake, was more than just a figurehead. Born in 1895, he rose to prominence as the president of Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, the company that owned the ill-fated freighter. But Fitzgerald’s connection to the Great Lakes ran far deeper than corporate ownership. As chronicled by John U. Bacon in his book The Gales of November, Fitzgerald hailed from a family of Irish immigrants with a storied maritime pedigree. Several relatives were ship captains and builders, and the family’s roots in the region’s shipping industry stretched back generations.
“My family was among many families and clans in the Great Lakes who were bold and brave enough to use these waters as shipping channels. They were really fundamental to the development of the Great Lakes region and beyond,” said Sheila Fitzgerald, a distant relative who recently participated in a memorial swim to honor the 50th anniversary of the sinking, as reported by WOOD TV+.
Despite his heritage, Edmund Fitzgerald was a modest man who reportedly resisted the idea of having the ship named after him. “Apparently, he resisted. He didn’t really wish for that to happen,” Sheila Fitzgerald explained. In fact, Bacon reveals that Fitzgerald’s board named the vessel behind his back. His reluctance was not just humility; it was also shaped by his lifelong experience in maritime insurance. As Bacon writes, “Fitzgerald’s reluctance might be explained by his innate humility, but perhaps also because he knew, as someone who had been raised in one of Milwaukee’s foremost shipping families and who had insured those ships for decades, that ships not only could sink, but often did.”
Nevertheless, when the ship was launched in 1958, Edmund Fitzgerald stood alongside his wife, who christened the vessel with a bottle of champagne. “The day the ship was launched was probably the happiest day of my father’s life,” his son later recalled, according to Bacon. Throughout the 1960s, Fitzgerald occasionally sailed as a guest aboard the ship with family and friends, a testament to his quiet pride in the vessel’s place in Great Lakes commerce.
Upon his retirement, Fitzgerald was gifted a display model of the ship—a small but poignant token that would later be donated to the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society. Yet, for all the pride the ship brought him, the events of November 10, 1975, cast a long shadow over his later years. The sinking of the Fitzgerald, which claimed the lives of all 29 mariners aboard, was a tragedy that weighed heavily on him. “There was a weight he carried around after that,” Michael Cudahy, who knew Fitzgerald, told Bacon. “He didn’t like to talk about it.”
Sheila Fitzgerald echoed those sentiments, noting, “It’s been documented that of course he was deeply affected by the tragedy of the ship sinking. I don’t think anyone would want their name connected to a tragedy—it’s quite sad, isn’t it?” Indeed, when Edmund Fitzgerald passed away in 1986 at the age of 90, the opening lines of his New York Times obituary focused not on his business achievements or family legacy, but on the ill-fated ship that bore his name. “Edmund Fitzgerald, an insurance executive for whom an ill-fated Great Lakes freighter was named, died here today,” the obituary read. It went on to recount the ship’s launch in 1958, its status as the largest vessel on the Great Lakes at the time, and its tragic demise in the November storm.
The disaster’s cultural impact was cemented a year after the sinking, when Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot released “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The song, immortalizing the tragedy, became an anthem of remembrance for those lost and a stark reminder of the perils faced by mariners on the Great Lakes. As WOOD TV+ and other outlets revisit the story on this milestone anniversary, Lightfoot’s ballad continues to resonate, its somber lyrics echoing the sorrow and respect felt by so many.
Memorials and commemorations this November will serve not only as a tribute to the 29 crew members who lost their lives, but also as a reflection on the legacy of the Fitzgerald family and the broader maritime community. The tragedy prompted renewed focus on shipping safety and the unpredictable dangers of Lake Superior, sparking debates and investigations that still inform maritime policy today. For families of the lost, the anniversary is a time of both mourning and pride—a recognition of courage in the face of nature’s might.
Fifty years on, the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains etched into the collective memory of the Great Lakes region. The ship’s legend endures, not just in song and story, but in the hearts of those who remember the men who sailed her and the man whose name she bore. As the anniversary approaches, communities gather to honor the past, reflect on the lessons learned, and ensure that the legacy of the Fitzgerald and her crew is never forgotten.
