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The gales of November will be remembered Tuesday on this the 40th anniversary of the last major shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
It was November 10, 1975 that the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a Lake Superior storm, with the loss of its crew of 29.
The ship was fully-loaded but University of Michigan Great Lakes expert Dave Schwab says there was really nothing that could have prevented the tragedy since forecasters at the time did not predict nearly 70 knot (hurricane force) winds and 25 foot waves in the area where the Fitzgerald sank.
Schwab says the legacy of the Fitzgerald comes from the great loss of life, which he adds, was not uncommon for earlier Great Lakes shipwrecks, many who did not even keep logs of who was on a particular ship.
He says with technology, weather forecasting is much better these days, but not to the point to say that such a tragedy could never happen again.
