My blog readers who know my affinity for adventure on the sea won’t be surprised that my latest book is The Gales of November. While I prefer survival stories–and we all know how this one ends–when you grow up a sailor on the Great Lakes like I have, you can’t help but be fascinated with the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

There is still a lot of conjecture and unknowns about why and how it sunk, and the book doesn’t offer much in the way of breakthrough new evidence, but it does offer some additional information that I didn’t know. And it posits that most likely, a number of factors contributed to the ship breaking in half and sinking—it probably wasn’t any one thing that doomed it. But in gale force winds and 25-30 foot waves with the occasional rogue 50 footer, virtually everything has to go perfectly. And several things did not go perfectly for the Fitz on Nov 10, 1975. 

I think my biggest takeaway was the history of Great Lakes shipping: the competitive aspect of loads and speed that influenced captains, the steel industry’s shift from ore to taconite, the various jobs on the ships and the way above deck and below deck roles often clashed, the Plimsoll line, the race to and line up at the Soo locks, the lack of technology and weather reporting back in 1975 vs today, and the lack of safety measures solidly in place back then vs now. 

I also appreciated learning about each member of the crew and their life leading up to that fateful night. Some were seasoned veterans in their 60s and some were wayward young men figuring out their next move. But all had great pride in the Fitz and what she stood for in 1975: modernity, size, speed, gourmet meals, high standards, and respect for its captain.

This is a well researched book not only about the great Edmund Fitzgerald but all the lakers that carry much needed cargo 9 months of the year through Great Lakes wind, waves (much different from ocean waves), heat, fog, snow, and a myriad of other elements–all of which rarely prevented them from venturing out. 

Thankfully today we have higher safety standards, better weather technology, and less competition among ships to carry the highest number of loads per season. No commercial ship has gone down in the Great Lakes since the Edmund Fitzgerald. 4.5⭐️