HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — On this day, 45 years ago, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a wicked gale into Lake Superior, 17 miles off Whitefish Point, killing all 29 aboard: Michael Armagost, Frederick Beetcher, Thomas Bentsen, Edward Bindon, Thomas Borgeson, Oliver Champeau, Nolan Church, Ransom Cundy, Thomas Edwards, Russell Haskell, George Holl, Bruce Hudson, Allen Kalmon, Gordon Maclellan, Joseph Mazes, John Mccarthy, Ernest McSorley, Eugene O’Brien, Karl Peckol, John Poviach, James Pratt, Robert Rafferty, Paul Riippa, John Simmons, William Spengler, Mark Thomas, Ralph Walton, David Weiss, Blaine Wilhelm. Many online tributes exist, including at ssedmundfitzgerald.org and the @LakeSuperior Twitter account, which listed each crewman’s name online today.
The men hailed from Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Florida.
Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the tragedy with The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Lightfoot recently told the Grammy Recording Academy he changed the lyrics to his song after an investigation found that, unlike the line in his song, a hatch cover did not break.
The 29 who died on Nov. 10, 1975, will be remembered at the Shipwreck Museum during an online service, set to start at 7 p.m. today, Nov. 10, 2020.
