6:45 AM | *The role of the weather in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on November 10th, 1975* — Arcfield Weather

More on Great Lakes shipping disasters

Incredibly, in the past 300 years, about 30,000 people have died in 10,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Other shipping disasters on the Great Lakes, in which weather played a role include:
• Nov. 11, 1913: eighteen ships were lost killing 254 people.
• Nov. 11-13, 1940: 57 men died when three freighters sank in Lake Michigan.
• Nov. 18 1958: 33 men died on Lake Michigan with the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley.
• Nov. 29, 1966: Daniel J. Morrell sank in Lake Huron killing the 28 crew members.

The list of weather-related ship disasters are all from the month of November mainly as a result of ice-buildup that typically inhibits shipping in the Great Lakes during the months of December, January and February.

One final note, an annual Edmund Fitzgerald memorial ceremony takes place on the anniversary date at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point (Michigan). The recovered and restored bell tolls 29 times for each member of the crew, and a 30th time for the estimated 30,000 mariners lost on the Great Lakes.

[If you now have a strong desire to listen to the song, click here for the video courtesy YouTube].

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com

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