Fatalities on the Fitz - Fifty Years After


Tomorrow is the golden anniversary of a tragic event that unfolded on Lake Superior. On November 10, 1975, the American freighter Edmund Fitzgerald embarked on a journey from Superior, Wisconsin, with a cargo of iron ore. The ship didn’t reach its intended destination of Detroit. The Fitz succumbed to a colossal storm. 29 lives were lost.

A year later, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot released “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” which became one of his biggest hits. I was 12 years old then, and considered purchasing the single, except my mother hated the song. I ended up taping it while listening to “American Top 40.” Casey Kasem revealed that the ship’s crew were all experienced men. The captain had been sailing the Great Lakes for 44 years. Other details of the sinking were uncertain. Casey thought the ship might have gone down during the early morning hours of November 11th. That would have coincided with storms (often called “November witches”) occurring on that same date in 1913 and 1930 that sank other ships and killed over 300 people. 

Historians still disagree on the cause of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Two days ago, I watched a few YouTube clips to learn more about it. In 1995, the original bell from the ship was retrieved. It’s now on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point, Michigan. Currently, divers are not allowed to go back to the Fitz since it’s now regarded as a gravesite.

One of the videos I watched originally aired in 1999 on the History Channel. That program was titled “Wrath of God.” It needs to be stated that tragedies like these are not “acts of God.” We live in a fallen world largely ruled by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) who comes to “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” Jesus came to give us life and “have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Another video mentioned a seaman who had felt uneasy about boarding one of the other ships that eventually went down in the water. The Lord often gives warnings so we can avoid tragedies like these and be in the right place at the right time. Learn to recognize His voice.

“And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” - John 10:4

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