Edmund Fitzgerald 50th Anniversary Set

A while back, we created the Now That's What I Call Ohio collection - yarns based on songs about or including Ohio. Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a now-classic bar song, was the star of that collection and quickly became one of our most beloved yarns, having become part of our permanent collection. 

November 10th, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fitzgerald and her crew's final trip. When she made her debut, she was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes and was a sight to see. Locals to her ports and the canals she'd pass through would come to watch her sail through, even chatting with the crew and the captain as she made her way along. Even before her unfortunate demise, she was a pop culture icon. November is notoriously the worst month to be on the lakes, especially Superior, and this was to be her final trip of the season before she would be laid up for maintenance. Several of her crew were also set to retire at the end of the voyage. She set sail with 26k tons of taconite pellets (a form of iron ore) to an island near Detroit, with Captain Ernest McSorely at her helm. 

Meanwhile, a storm had brewed in Arkansas and was making it's way north, but was forecasted to pass just south of Superior, leaving the ship to it's normal sailing conditions. That wasn't the case, and as the storm hit, both the Mighty Fitz and the SS. Anderson (set to take most of the same route) were battered by hurricane force winds and waves of at least 10 feet. Though many things would contribute to the accident, the Anderson would lose sight of the Fitzgerald while guiding her forward from 15 miles behind. The last radio call from the Fitz was Captain McSorely saying they were "holding their own." 

Captain Cooper of the Anderson said that his ship had been hit by 2 massive waves, a phenomenon called the Rogue Wave Effect. He judged the 1st to be around 25 ft high and the second to be 35-40 ft. If the seasoned Captain is correct, the waves would be at least 10ft higher than any other reported on the lakes. He believes that the Fitz was hit by the same two, probably gaining strength as they headed her way, submerging the bow and causing her to tilt forward and hit the bottom, breaking in half. 

The Fitz and her 29 man crew were 15 miles from the safe haven of Whitefish Bay, and upon arrival, Capt. Cooper realized that she hadn't made it ahead of them and the crew headed back out into the storm to find her.  By the morning, they feared the worst, and after a few days of searching, a navy aircraft found her in 530 ft of Canadian waters via magnetic anomaly signatures. 

She remains the largest ship to have wrecked on the lakes and has been designated a grave by the Canadian government as her 29 crew members were never recovered, coining the term "the lake that never gives up her dead."

This Anniversary set to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the wreck and remember the 29 lost comes with 1 skein each Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Lake Superior on our sock weight base, as well as a coordinating stitch marker.

Chester Sock: 100g, 437 yards, blend of 75% superwash merino/25% nylon

*The shawl pictured is the Secret Paths Shawl by Johanna Lindhal