Loss.

Thirty-five years ago tonight, at 7:15 p.m., the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm on Lake Superior. All 29 hands were lost.

The storm that brought "Fitz" down contained sustained winds of nearly 70 miles per hour, producing 25 foot waves.

There are many theories about what caused her loss. Mine is that, taking on water, she sat dangerously low in the water, and buried her nose in the trough of a 25 footer, disappearing quickly in 500 feet of Superior, her mighty engines driving her down. She's in two pieces at the bottom.

This is the last known photgraph of the ship, taken two weeks before her sinking.


The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum provides a fitting tribute here.

The Detroit News' account is found here.

The Freep is here.

Drink your glasses empty ... rest in peace, boys.