It was 39 years ago tonight that the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior. A fierce autumn storm that resembled a hurricane sank the freighter and its 29 member crew. It still remains one of the most terrifying storms to hit the area. Do you remember it?
The freighter was christened on June 8, 1958, and held the record as the largest vessel on the Great Lakes at 729 feet long, according to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
Ship Captain Ernest M. McSorley decided on a more northerly course in an attempt to get ahead of a strengthening storm system. The Weather Service issued a gale warning during the evening of Nov. 9, only to upgrade it to a more urgent storm warning on Nov. 10.
The last radio message from the captain “We’re holding our own”
