The Edmund Fitzgerald was a 729-foot Great Lakes freighter, the largest on the lakes when it was launched in 1958. On November 10, 1975, while transporting over 26,000 tons of taconite iron ore pellets, the ship was caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior. The storm generated hurricane-force winds and waves reported to be as high as 35 feet. The Fitzgerald sank just 17 miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay, taking all 29 crew members with it.

The wreck was later discovered 530 feet deep in Canadian waters, lying in two large pieces. While the ship never sent a formal "Mayday" distress signal, Captain Ernest McSorley was in radio contact with a nearby ship, the Arthur M. Anderson, reporting that his vessel had lost its radars, had a heavy list, and was taking on water. The tragedy was immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." In 1995, the ship's original bell was recovered and is now displayed at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

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