By Steve Fernlund
When tragedies like airplane crashes, terrorist attacks, severe storms, wildfires, and, too often, school shootings happen, the media coverage is extensive and intense. Reporters and videographers seem to arrive promptly after the incident, and the story is on continuous repeat as additional information develops.
As the SS Edmund Fitzgerald slipped below the surface of Lake Superior fifty years ago, communication and video technology weren’t nearly as good as they are today. Still, Dave Anderson on the Duluth ABC affiliate WDIO-TV interrupted the “Monday Night Football” game on November 10, 1975, within hours of the ship going down to report that the Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk in Lake Superior. The station had received confirmation of the wreck and felt it was a story of significant community importance that needed immediate reporting, despite interrupting a popular program.
Bill Hansen, now living in Grand Marais, was a recent college grad in 1975, working as a reporter and camera operator for Duluth television station KBJR, an NBC affiliate. After working six days straight, he finished his shift on the night of the 10th and looked forward to having Tuesday, November 11th, off. After leaving the station that Monday, Hansen went to a neighborhood bar to watch Monday night football. When WDIO broke into the game to report the maritime tragedy, Hansen returned to his station immediately.
Hansen and producer Ray Niekamp drove to the Duluth Coast Guard station to cover the beginning of rescue efforts. While there, they got permission from the television station to rent an airplane and visit the last known site of the Fitzgerald the morning of the 11th. They arrived at the site as daylight broke, and from the aircraft, Hansen could see vessels responding to the distress call. While filming the scene, debris and oil from the Fitzgerald broke to the surface. The two young journalists flew on to Sault Ste. Marie, MI, where they interviewed officials of the shipping company and the Coast Guard. When the NBC network learned of their efforts, they dispatched network reporters to Duluth and featured Hansen’s film of the scene on the evening news that night.
Seeing the site of the sinking and meeting with the people most affected by it has profoundly affected Bill’s life. “It was a terrible tragedy, really grim,” he said.
Since the ship sank without a distress call and no survivors were found, the news on November 11th was characterized by uncertainty, grim reports, and a massive search effort.
Newspapers across the Great Lakes region carried the story on their front pages, typically with a tone of shock and uncertainty about the fate of the crew. Associated Press (AP) reporter Harry Atkins, who flew over the search area on the 11th, wrote a widely circulated first paragraph that summarized the tragedy: “Rescuers searched Lake Superior’s chilly waters Tuesday for the 29-member crew of the sunken ore-carrier Edmund Fitzgerald but found only an oil slick, empty lifeboats and life jackets.” Headlines from the Duluth Herald and Duluth News-Tribune included “Laker sinks. 29 Lost” on the Herald and “Oil, debris only trace of laker” on the News-Tribune.
The broadcast reports on the 11th were a testament to the bravery and dedication of the search and rescue teams. They focused heavily on the frantic, but increasingly hopeless, search efforts led by the Coast Guard and the accompanying freighter, the Arthur M. Anderson, in the violent seas. They reported finding the debris, lifeboats, and life jackets—confirming the ship was gone, but offering no clue as to how or why it sank so suddenly.
The key element of the November 11th coverage was the enduring mystery. With no survivors, no distress call, and only debris found on the surface, the original media accounts highlighted the bewildering fact that the largest ship on the Great Lakes had simply vanished in the storm. This mystery continues to captivate and engage, ultimately contributing to the enduring legend immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad the following year. Lightfoot’s iconic song, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, popularized the idiom “Gales of November.”
In the days and weeks immediately following the sinking, the lack of a distress call and the total loss of the 729-foot ship led to several competing theories as marine experts and the Coast Guard began their official inquiry.
The initial theories for the sinking generally fell into three main categories: she was overwhelmed by the storm, hatch cover failure led to massive flooding of the cargo hold, or she grounded on a shallow area known as Six Fathom Shoal near Caribou Island, damaging the hull.
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was not just a ship, but a significant part of American maritime history. Launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ore boat on the Great Lakes and remains the largest to have sunk in Superior’s depths. The vessel was located in deep water on November 14, 1975, by a U.S. Navy aircraft detecting magnetic anomalies, and was subsequently found to be in two large pieces.
For 17 years, the Edmund Fitzgerald carried taconite from mines along the Iron Range near Duluth to iron works in Detroit and other Great Lakes ports. She set seasonal haul records six times, often breaking her own record.
With a full load of taconite pellets and Captain Ernest M. Mc Sorley in command, she embarked on her final voyage from Superior, WI, on the afternoon of November 9. En route to a steel mill near Detroit, she joined a second taconite freighter, SS Arthur M. Anderson. By the next day, the two boats were caught in a severe storm with near-hurricane-force winds and waves reaching heights of up to 35 feet.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, invested in the iron and minerals industries on a large scale, including the construction of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which represented the first such investment by any American life insurance company.
Northwestern Mutual named the ship after its president and chairman of the board, Edmund Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s own grandfather and great uncles had themselves been lake captains, and his father owned the Milwaukee Drydock Company, which built and repaired ships.
Arthur M. Anderson, along with a second freighter, the SS William Clay Ford, carried out the initial search for survivors. Although the search recovered debris, including lifeboats and rafts, none of the crew were found.
The Split Rock Lighthouse on the North Shore honored the crew and families of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the 50th Anniversary this week of her sinking at a memorial lighting of the historic beacon erected in 1910 to provide navigational and safety aid for mariners.
