The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
November 10, 2003
On November 10, 1975, the 729-foot (222 m) ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald and her 26,226 tons of taconite sank in a powerful autumn storm on Lake Superior. There were no survivors among the 29 crew members. Pictured is one of 2 lifeboats recovered from the wreck, its hull torn by the fury of Superior's waves. Her tragic last voyage prompted singer Gordon Lightfoot to write a memorial ballad, "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald," which has become an American folk classic. The lifeboats reside on a museum ship, The Valley Camp in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. See also the Earth Science Picture of the Day for November 10, 2000.