The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior 40 years ago today, making today a very somber anniversary, according to Kare11. The ship had with it a crew of 29 men.
The night she went missing was supposedly a very rough one, with high wind velocity, according to Jamestown Sun. One search crew, on the Cutter Naugatuck of the U.S. Coast Guard, reported finding lots of wreckage over the course of three days, including life rings, propane tanks, oars, etc., painting a sad scene of death and loss.
Along with the various members of the crew, the ship also lost its shipment of taconite iron ore pellets. The Fitzgerald was carrying about 26,000 tons of it, which is the equivalent of about 1,200 barrels of oil.
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is commemorating the accident, honoring the ship and the crew members aboard who did not make it back to shore, according to WXYZ.
But not everyone is looking back on that day, or even talking about.
"It was a touchy subject around here for a long time," said 53-year-old Mel Sando, executive director of the Lake County Historical Society, who was just a boy when the accident happened. "Most people who celebrate it are usually people who aren't from around here. They have a romantic notion of it. But there were guys (aboard) from Knife River and Superior and relatives from Two Harbors. People really didn't sit around and discuss it."
