THE LEGEND OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD — 50 YEARS LATER

Fifty years ago this week, the Great Lakes claimed their most famous victim. On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729-foot ore carrier once hailed as the “rock star” of the inland seas, went down in a brutal Lake Superior storm. All 29 crew members were lost.

NPR’s excellent new feature on the anniversary (Neda Ulaby, Morning Edition, Nov. 6, 2025) reminds us why this story still grips people from Toronto to Toledo. The Fitzgerald wasn’t just another freighter. When it launched in 1958, 15,000 people showed up in Detroit. When it slid through the Soo Locks, crowds waited half a day just to watch it pass. It was a freshwater Titanic — massive, legendary, and built to haul the iron that powered a continent.

But the Great Lakes are not gentle. As author John U. Bacon explains in the NPR piece, freshwater waves grow taller and break harder than ocean waves. On that November night, the Fitzgerald was hammered by 100-mph winds and 60-foot walls of water, slamming the ship every four to eight seconds until it vanished from radar.

Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting ballad, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” turned the tragedy into folklore. According to NPR, Lightfoot agonized over writing it at all, terrified of exploiting grief. But the song connected because it came from a man who understood the water. It remains the unofficial anthem of the Great Lakes.

The sinking changed everything. As NPR reports, the Fitzgerald’s loss pushed regulators and shippers to overhaul safety standards. And in the 50 years since, there hasn’t been a single major commercial shipwreck on the Lakes.

From 1875 to 1975, the Great Lakes were relentless. As NPR notes, at least 6,000 commercial ships sank in those waters in that century alone — roughly one shipwreck every week, and a casualty every single day. The Edmund Fitzgerald may be the most famous, but it was far from the only vessel claimed by these inland seas.

At Go Niagara Tours, we tell these stories because they’re part of who we are. The Great Lakes aren’t just scenery — they’re an inland ocean with centuries of danger, industry, and legend below the surface. The Falls, the gorge, the locks, the old shipping lanes — all of it lives in the same world that produced the Fitzgerald.

When you travel with us, you’re not just seeing Niagara. You’re stepping into the history of a region built by water, shaped by storms, and kept alive by the people who never stopped sailing it.

Inspired by NPR’s coverage: “50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald…,” Morning Edition, Nov. 6, 2025.

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