by the Journal-Opinion

Fifty years ago today, 29 sailors died in a storm on Lake Superior. 

Thirty-eight years ago next Monday, Gordon Lightfoot sang ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” as the 20th song in a 27 song set at the Flynn in Burlington. There are no other known Vermont connections with the sinking of the ship that captured the attention of two nations in 1975.

The sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald continues to captivate the nation, noted Smithsonian magazine.

“The Fitz” was a plum assignment. 

“It’s the ship that everybody wanted to be on,” book author John U. Bacon said. “And they were the rock stars of the Great Lakes.”

Their captain was a 30-year veteran set to retire after this final voyage of the season.

“We are holding our own,” Capt. Ernest McSorley told another Great Lakes ship captain in the final radio communication from the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

Several of the sailors were from the Washburn area of Wisconsin. Families and community members recently gathered to dedicate a new memorial, according to the Ashland Daily Press:

“While the sinking of the Fitzgerald became etched in history and popular culture, [Judge John] Anderson said the story in the Chequamegon Bay region was more about perseverance and strength.

“Every family faces a loss of loved ones, but he said ‘this was different.’

“‘These families faced the loss, while the whole nation was watching and listening,’ he said. ‘There are no guidelines to help families with these types of tragedies.'”