MARQUETTE, Mich. — Spend enough time along the shores of Lake Superior and it won’t be long before there’s some reminder of what happened “when the gales of November came early.”
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Debbie Gomez-Felder holds up a picture of her father, who died aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald, on Oct. 20 in her home in Nashotah, Wis.
Frederick Stonehouse, whose 1977 book "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was the first written on the famous ship, discusses the impact of the disaster 50 years later on Oct. 25 in Marquette, Mich.
The Fitzgerald is pictured in 1959, carrying a crew of 28 to 30 men and a load of 26,216 tons of taconite pellets.
Photos: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald still resonates 50 years later
In a Nov. 24, 1975 file photo 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 Nov. 10, 1975. All 29 crewmen aboard perished and did not get a chance to use any of the lifesaving equipment. The Great Lakes have claimed some 6,000 ships since European explorers began navigating the waters in the 1600s, but few have captured the public’s imagination as has the Edmund Fitzgerald. (AP Photo/GE, File)
In a Nov. 11, 1975 file photo, one of several merchant ships, that aided in the search for the missing freighter Edmund Fitzgerald cruises the area believe to be the last known location of the freighter, which sunk on Nov. 10, 1975, in Lake Superior. The Great Lakes have claimed some 6,000 ships since European explorers began navigating the waters in the 1600s, but few have captured the public’s imagination as has the Edmund Fitzgerald. (AP Photo/JCH)
Elizabeth Fitzgerald, wife of the chairman of the board of Northwest Mutual Life Insurance Co., holds a bottle of champagne with which she launched the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald in Detroit, June 7, 1958. With her is her husband, for whom the vessel was named. The Edmund Fitzgerald was built at a cost of $8 million and is the largest and longest ship ever constructed in the Great Lakes. (AP Photo/Alvan Quinn)
FILE - The largest and longest vessel ever built on the Great Lakes, the 729-foot ore carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, slides into the launching basin, on June 7, 1958, in Detroit, Michigan. Sailors who lost their lives in shipwrecks on the Great Lakes and Michigan waterways will be remembered at a historic church in downtown Detroit on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Nov. 10, 1975, in Lake Superior during a storm. (AP Photo, File)
The bell at the Mariner's Church in Detroit is displayed, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
One of several merchant ships, that aided in the search for the missing Str. Edmund Fitzgerald that apparently sank in Whitefish Bay just off of Coppermine Point, Ontario on Monday, in severe weather, cruises the area believe to be the last known location of the Str. Fitzgerald on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 1975. (AP Photo/JCH)
A helicopter, aiding in the search for the missing Str. Edmund Fitzgerald lost in severe night in Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior just north of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is fueled at a landing pad at Whitefish Point on Tuesday on Nov. 12, 1975. The Fitzgerald went down with a crowd of 29 while carrying about 26,000 tons of taconite pellets. (AP Photo/JCH)
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. All 29 crewmen aboard perished and did not get a chance to use any of the lifesaving equipment. Inspection took place at Cleveland Harbor on Sunday, Nov. 24, 1975 and officers donned white coveralls because equipment was covered with oil. (AP Photo/GE)
** ADVANCE FOR SATURDAY- SUNDAY, NOV .5-6 ** A life ring and life vest hang in an exhibit along with a painting of the Edmund Fitzgerald in rough Lake Superior waters in a display at the Lake Superior Maritime Museum Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005, in Duluth, Minn. The Fitzgerald, an ore carrier, sank with its crew of 29 Nov. 10, 1975. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Coast guard officials said Tuesday, Nov. 11, 1975, that lifejackets and floating debris have been found near the last reported position of the great lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald which disappeared in a storm on lake superior on Monday. The Fitzgerald in a 1959 file photo, with a crew of 28 to 30 men, was carrying a load of 26,216 tons of taconite pellets. (AP Photo)
FILE - In a Nov. 11, 1975 file photo, two U.S. Coast Guardsmen move a life raft from the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald across the dock in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., after the raft was plucked from Whitefish Bay by the freighter Roger Blough, a ship assisting in the search for the missing Edmund Fitzgerald, which sunk on Nov. 10, 1975, in Lake Superior. The Great Lakes have claimed some 6,000 ships since European explorers began navigating the waters in the 1600s, but few have captured the public’s imagination as has the Edmund Fitzgerald. (AP photo/JCH)
