40 Years Ago Today the Edmund Fitzgerald Sank in Lake Superior

It's been immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot's famous song, but it was today, November 10th, back in 1975, that the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a huge storm on Lake Superior.

All 29 crew members aboard the ship were lost in the wreck 40 years ago. According to this USA Today story, "The ship sank in 530 feet of water about 17 miles from Whitefish Bay, near the cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario." But even though the ship sank near Michigan and set sail from Superior, Wisconsin, thanks to Minnesota being home to Lake Superior's North Shore, the wreck-- and Lightfoot's song-- always seem to hit home for me.

I'm reminded of the song -- and the wreck -- every time I head up Highway-61 along the North Shore to Lutsen and other points north, like Grand Marais and the Gunflint Trail, or if I spot a freighter on the 'big lake they call Gitchee Gumee' near Duluth. It seems odd to me that such a tragedy could occur in what we consider the modern age. It's one thing to read about the many shipwrecks that occurred on the Great Lakes in the late 1800's or early 1900's, but the Fitz sank in 1975-- when much more modern technology existed. (Though, by today's standards, the Fitzgerald back in 1975 was still sailing under what must have been fairly primitive technology.)

In any case, though, it's just another a reminder of what the powerful force of nature can do. And even if we think our technological advancements have put us out of harm's way, Mother Nature always has a way of reminding us that she's still in charge.