Detroit Museum Offers Free Admission for 51st Anniversary of Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum will host four days of remembrance events, including free entry on Sunday and Tuesday, to honor the 29 crew members lost in Lake Superior.
By Luka Evans ·
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit will offer free admission on two days of its four-day tribute to the crew of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald.
The museum, located on Belle Isle, is hosting events from November 7 through November 10 to mark 51 years since the freighter sank. Free entry is available for the Lost Mariners Remembrance Ceremony on November 8 and for Lost Mariners Day on November 10. Paid events, such as a brunch on November 8, cost $85.
The ship sank on November 10, 1975, while carrying 26,116 tons of taconite pellets to Zug Island in southwest Detroit. The 729-foot vessel disappeared from radar 17 miles from shore, northwest of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior. It now rests in 530 feet of water. All 29 men aboard were lost. Their ages ranged from 21 to 63.
Captain Ernest McSorley’s final radio transmission, recorded on November 10, 1975, stated the crew was "holding our own." Minutes later, the ship vanished without a distress call. The U.S. Coast Guard had ordered vessels to seek safe harbor after hurricane-force winds and 25-foot waves developed during the storm.
The Fitzgerald was launched in River Rouge, Michigan, on June 7, 1958. It held the title of the largest carrier on the Great Lakes from 1958 until 1971. Before being surpassed, it became the first carrier to haul more than one million tons of iron ore pellets through the Sault Ste. Marie locks.
The November 8 ceremony includes an Honor Flotilla and the ringing of 29 bells. A memorial wreath will be placed near the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald anchor outside the museum. On November 10, the museum will screen a documentary titled "We Finished Their Journey: the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim," which covers a 411-mile swim from the wreck site to Detroit.
The Edmund Fitzgerald remains the largest ship ever lost in the Great Lakes, a body of water that holds more than 1,000 resting vessels. The November 9, 1975, storm was driven by the collision of arctic air masses and warm lake waters, a pattern known as the Gales of November.
