Launching its final voyage in late November 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald, accompanied by its 29 crewmen, encountered a storm on Lake Superior, leaving no survivors.To commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the sinking, the Detroit Historical Society hosted a series of tribute events between Nov. 7-10 at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, alongside events hosted at the Mariners’ church both located in Detroit.
Victoria Stewart, assistant director of the humanities center at Wayne State University, debuted special pop-up exhibitions commemorating the wreck’s 50-year anniversary. Stewart worked aside both tribute events to give a life to the ship, remembering it years later.
“The ship had a life and a story,” Stewart said. “It caused people to stop and pay more attention to it.”
The morning after the wreck, the pastor at the Mariners’ Church in Detroit rang the church bells in memory of each lost crew member. Stewart’s pop-up sites helped to educate the people visiting these sites.
“The Dossin Great Lakes Museum started having these annual events as well commemorating not just the Fitzgerald, but the Great Lakes shipping fleet in general,” Stewart said.
