Museum honors 40th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Published 9:26 am Thursday, October 29, 2015

Submitted photo

Submitted photo

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — The Michigan Maritime Museum will be hosting a Gales of November event beginning at 7 p.m. Nov. 10.

Nov. 10, 2015, marks the 40th anniversary of the fateful night for the freighter. Traditionally, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum honors the lives lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald by holding an event each year on the anniversary date and ringing the Fitzgerald’s bell for each soul aboard.

Leaders say they would like to honor the memory of those men through this collaborative event with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum during this important anniversary. The evening will commemorate the Fitzgerald and other vessels that could not outrun the Gales of November.

To accomplish this goal, the Michigan Maritime Museum has planned a number of activities for the annual event.

Guest speaker Jim Spurr will present his “Ice Water Mansions” lecture pertaining to the perils of a November passage on Lake Superior. The discussion will begin with the first European shipwreck on Lake Superior in 1816, continues with two sister ships that went down in the same storm a century later, and concludes with a discussion on the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Nov. 10, 1975.

Underwater video footage of the Fitzgerald, provided by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point, will be on display during this event.

Admission is $8 for adults and $7 for seniors. There is no admission fee for Museum members. Light refreshments will be provided.

 

The Michigan Maritime Museum is dedicated to the preservation of Michigan Great Lakes waterways, maritime history, and culture. Located at the drawbridge in South Haven, the museum is a 501 (C3) organization and donations are tax deductible. For more information call 1-800-747-3810 or visit michiganmaritimemuseum.org.