Photos show the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the bottom of Lake Superior 48 years after the 13-ton ship sank

Erin SnodgrassJan 14, 2024, 10:34 IST

The Edmund Fitzgerald sits on the bottom of Lake Superior 535 feet below the surface.Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 — 48 years ago.
A 1995 dive to recover the ship's bell captured footage of the wreck 535 feet below Superior's surface.

The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald — the eponymous ship memorialized in Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 folk song — sank in a November gale on Lake Superior 48 years ago this month.

The Great Lakes freighter went down on November 10, 1975, amid blustering winds and powerful waves, killing all 29 people on board.

Nearly five decades later, the Fitzgerald remains one of the most famous shipwrecks in American history, thanks in large part to Lightfoot's six-minute song released just months after the ship sank, which detailed the vessel's final hours.

A dive to recover the ship's bell in 1995 captured footage of the wreck on the bottom of Lake Superior.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was built to be the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in 1959.AP Photo, File

The vessel was 729 feet and weighed 13,632 gross tons.

The 729-foot ore boat Edmund Fitzgerald, shown in 1972 file photo.Getty Images

The Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 9, 1975.

A screenshot of footage from the 1995 dive to recover the Fitzgerald's bell. Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

The ship set off on its final journey as a powerful November gale was building.

A screenshot of footage from the 1995 dive to recover the Fitzgerald's bell.Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

Around 3:30 p.m. on November 10, McSorley first reported damage on the Fitzgerald.

A screenshot of footage from the 1995 dive to recover the Fitzgerald's bell.Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

Final contact from the Fitzgerald came around 7:10 p.m.

A screenshot of footage from the 1995 dive to recover the Fitzgerald's bell.Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

The Anderson later discovered the Fitzgerald's two lifeboats in the water.

Coast Guard officers on a Board of Inquiry inspected life rings that were recovered from the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald which sank in stormy weather in Lake Superior on November 10.AP Photo/GE

Investigators later said the Fitzgerald was in "the worst possible place at the worst possible time."

The Edmund Fitzgerald sits on the bottom of Lake Superior 535 feet below the surface.Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

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Photos show the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the bottom of Lake Superior 48 years after the 13-ton ship sank

The Edmund Fitzgerald was built to be the largest ship on the Great Lakes.

The vessel was 729 feet and weighed 13,632 gross tons.

The Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 9, 1975.

The ship set off on its final journey as a powerful November gale was building.

Around 3:30 p.m. on November 10, McSorley first reported damage on the Fitzgerald.

Final contact from the Fitzgerald came around 7:10 p.m.

The Anderson later discovered the Fitzgerald's two lifeboats in the water.

Investigators later said the Fitzgerald was in "the worst possible place at the worst possible time."