On this day in 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior

On 10 November 1975, the American freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a severe storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 people aboard. The ship was carrying iron ore pellets from Superior, Wisconsin, to Detroit, Michigan, when it went down near the entrance to Whitefish Bay. No distress call was heard.

A routine cargo voyage turns dangerous
The Fitzgerald had left Wisconsin the previous afternoon with more than 26,000 long tons of taconite pellets, a processed form of iron ore used in steelmaking. Another freighter, the Arthur M. Anderson, followed it across Lake Superior. The two vessels kept in radio contact as the storm intensified.

By the evening of 10 November, the Fitzgerald was travelling at reduced speed. It sank at about 7.15 pm local time, roughly 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay. The Anderson was close enough to speak to the Fitzgerald by radio shortly before it disappeared.

What investigators found
The US National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the probable cause was sudden flooding of the cargo hold after one or more hatch covers collapsed. Investigators found that water had already entered parts of the vessel through damage above the waterline and through hatch covers that did not seal against the weather. The ship had begun to lean and was sitting lower in the water before the final flooding.

The investigation looked at the ship’s stability, hull strength, loading and weather forecasts. Follow-up inspections found that some other Great Lakes bulk carriers also had hatch covers that failed to keep water out as required.

A bell recovered for the families
In 1995, at the request of crew members’ families, divers recovered the Fitzgerald’s bell and left a replica on the wreck. The original is displayed at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Michigan, as a memorial to the 29 men who died. Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot brought the story to a wider audience with his ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Newshub Editorial in North America – 10 November 2026