On November 10th, 1975, a sudden storm blew over Lake Superior, with gale force winds and 60-foot waves. The freighter named the Edmund Fitzgerald, with a crew of 29, was caught in the confluence of three storms and sank, with no survivors. The Great Lakes are not just lakes, they are more like inland seas, and are more dangerous than oceans due to their geography. But they are also useful transportation for industry. The Edmund Fitzgerald is only one of many tragic shipwrecks on the Great Lakes (6000 in the previous century), but the ship was notable as the best ship on the lakes long before the wreck, and the ship’s captain, Ernest McSorley, was a legend in the industry. The run launched on November 9th was to be his last before retirement. Then the haunting song by Gordon Lightfoot that came out in 1976 made the Edmund Fitzgerald a household name.
Read an interview with John U. Bacon, author of the book The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald about what we know and don't know about that shipwreck, including some stories of crew members and their families, at Smithsonian.