First published 2025
John U. Bacon reconstructs the final voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Great Lakes' most celebrated cargo ship. For thirty years after World War II, the Great Lakes region dominated global commerce much like Silicon Valley commands technology today. The 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald stood as the crown jewel of this maritime empire, the largest and most profitable vessel on the Lakes. On November 10, 1975, a catastrophic storm unleashed hundred-mile-per-hour winds and fifty-foot waves across Lake Superior. The Mighty Fitz sailed directly into this meteorological nightmare. When the ship vanished beneath the waves, all twenty-nine crew members perished, creating a maritime mystery that endured for fifty years. Bacon conducted over one hundred interviews with families, friends, and former shipmates of the lost sailors. He examines the Great Lakes shipping industry's role in America's economic rise, the unique culture of Great Lakes sailors, the probable causes of the disaster, and the lasting grief of the survivors. The book honors both the dead sailors and the wives, sons, and daughters who mourned them.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-nonfiction, maritime-mystery
Setting: Lake Superior
Period: 1975
442 pages · Hardcover · Liveright