On the 48th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, this year’s tributes held in Metro Detroit were made more significant by the loss of the man who made it world famous.
“Hundreds of beautiful songs, but the one (Gordon Lightfoot) is probably best known for is the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” said Joel Stone, Curator Emeritus at the Detroit Historical Society. “He made that wreck and the Great Lakes maritime world famous.”
Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot, who died in May, was remembered Friday (Nov. 10) along with the 29 men who went down with the ship.
The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975.
Memorial services were held Friday from the shores of Superior to the banks of the Detroit River.
“There are people out here who knew people on the boat, so they come, they show up, they tell their stories,” Stone said.
At the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in the UP, stories were told about how Lightfoot came to write the song.
Mike Fornes said Lightfoot was drawn to media coverage of the shipwreck in the days after it happened.
“He began assembling news clippings, the Newsweek story, and getting everything in chronological order (and) over a few weeks, the lyrics began to be scribbled on a legal pad,” said Fornes.
Even after the song became a hit, Lightfoot paid great attention and respect to the shipwreck.
“He kept in touch with survivors, he showed up to memorial ceremonies like ours and even changed the words to the song to make it most correct as we learn more about the wreck,” Stone said.