Edmund Fitzgerald

Edmund Fitzgerald Built - 1958 729 ft. x 75 ft. x 39 ft. Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when she was launched in 1958. "Fitz" captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship's intercom while passing through the St. Clair River, the Detroit River, and the Soo Locks during the freighter's 17 years sailing the Great Lakes. The 729 ft. "Fitz" sank in 1975 during a November storm, the cruelest month for weather on the lakes. Many have learned about her demise through the lyrics of Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 hit song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." The entire crew of 29 lost their lives. As the song states, "Superior never gives up her dead." The water in Lake Superior never warms up enough to have cadavers float to the surface. In the aftermath of many Great Lakes freighter tragedies like the Edmund Fitzgerald, changes were made in shipping regulations to improve ship and crew safety.

As you walked south from the “Starting Point” plaque to this location on the St. Clair River Boardwalk, the brass plaque marked Goliath on the boardwalk represents the bow of the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald.  The brass plaque at the Starting Point represents the stern or back of every ship included in this walking tour. By looking back to the starting point, you are able to get an estimate of the size or 729 ft. length of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

St. Clair, by Charles Homberg, St. Clair Historical Commission, 2007; St. Clair Historical Museum and Research Center archives; Great Lakes Ships data base, Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Alpena, Michigan; Great Lakes Freighters by Rand Shackleton, Thunder Bay Press, 2003. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," song and lyrics by Gordon Lightfoot, copyright 1976 by Warner Chappell Music. Inc.