The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Summary

THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF AMERICA’S MOST HAUNTING MARITIME DISASTER.

AT THE HEIGHT OF AMERICA’S POSTWAR BOOM, no region was more vital to the nation’s economic strength than the Great Lakes. It was the beating heart of the global economy—possessing all the power and prestige that Silicon Valley enjoys today. This industrial dominance depended on Great Lakes freighters getting iron ore from the shores of Lake Superior to the factories in Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland.

Few endeavors have bound time so mercilessly to money as Great Lakes shipping did at its peak, and no vessel had been more perfectly designed to maximize both than the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. At 75 feet wide and 729 feet long, the Fitzgerald was at the time of her launch the largest ship on the lakes, and she repeatedly broke her own records for the largest loads, the fastest runs, and the biggest season hauls throughout her career. She was a champion heavyweight, sprinter, and workhorse, all in one.

But on November 10, 1975, when the “storm of the century” threw 100-mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.

In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—“the wives and the sons and the daughters” as Gordon

Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.

Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, The Gales of November is both an emotional tribute to the Fitzgerald’s captain and crew and a propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America’s most-mourned shipwreck.

“John U. Bacon has done it again! This is another riveting narrative that puts facts on a still-mesmerizing legend. But this is more than getting the details right. Bacon has distilled the essence of the story and rendered a huge monument to those lost and a great gift to the rest of us.”—Ken Burns, filmmaker