By John Bacon
Editor’s Note: If you have lived near or spent time on the Great Lakes, this story of the Edmund Fitzgerald is “can’t miss”. Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for recommending. The story is often told but not nearly as well as this author does for a couple reasons: one, he writes through the lens of the families on co-workers of the 29 men who perished that day and two, he sets the history of commercial shipping in our region as background. Two of the most interesting things I learned are that the Iron Ranges of Minnesota and Michigan created a “Silicon Valley” of prosperous cities from 1880s to 1970s and that the improvements and regulations borne of the Fitzgerald disaster resulted in no commercial ship disasters in the Great Lakes in the 51 years since.
Favorite excerpt:
“They called it the Storm of the Century. But the 1913 “White Hurricane” would hold that title for only sixty-two years and three days”
Intersted in the Book here’s a link
Peace,
Tim McCarthy
