Monday, Nov. 10 will mark half a century since the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald steamed into eternity in 1975, taking with it its entire crew of 29 men.
The story began 18 years earlier, on February 1, 1957. On that date, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance placed an order with Great Lakes Engineering Works for a new cargo ship to be launched on the River Rouge in Detroit. The new ship was to be 729 feet in length, which would make it the largest vessel on the Great Lakes.
The plan was to lease the ship to the Columbia Transportation Division of Cleveland-based Oglebay Norton for a term of 25 years. Launched the following year, in 1958, the new ship’s life began on a somber note—one of the spectators at her launch died of a heart attack…