Many of us know the story. The ship set sail on the afternoon of November 9th 1975 on a three hour tour with Gilligan and the skipper too. Wait. So sorry, wrong story. The ship did set sail on November 9th 1975 but instead of carrying a bunch of rich and famous people, it carried everyday hard working crew members and a full cargo of ore pellets headed for ironworks in Detroit.

This is what the Edmond Fitzgerald did. The ship was a workhorse for decades carrying iron ore from Minnesota to Detroit. The Edmond Fitzgerald had made this same voyage over and over setting shipping haul records as it went.

It was day two of the voyage on November 10th 1975 when the ship encountered a hurricane force like storm and sank in Canadian waters only about 17 miles from Sault Ste Marie.  The entire crew of 29 lost their lives in the wreck, their bodies never to be recovered.

The irony of course is the Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie was a special showcase for the Edmond Fitzgerald. A place where Captain Peter Pulcer would play music over the ship's intercom and narrate facts (including haul records) about the ship as the ship passed through the Locks. His efforts endeared the Edmond Fitzgerald to many spectators who would do a little ship watching at the Soo Locks.

The video below is one of examples of how so many Michiganders loved the Edmond Fitzgerald. It's awesome to see the sheer size of this ship that was one of the largest to sail in the Great Lakes and unfortunately, sink in the Great Lakes as well.

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