By Pete Kinsey
Great Lakes Representative
The 29 crewmembers lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald were honored during a ceremony hosted by the Great Lakes Maritime Academy on November 10 – 50 years from the date of the vessel’s sinking on Lake Superior in 1975.
STAR Center Director of Training Jerry Pannell and GLMA Superintendent Rear Adm. Jerry Achenbach delivered addresses during the memorial ceremony. American Maritime Officers East Coast Representative Marissa Cap and I attended the ceremony. We joined the community, our maritime industry partners, and GLMA cadets, alumni, and personnel in honoring the mariners lost in this tragic casualty.
In his address, Jerry Pannell spoke directly to the realities faced by mariners in licensed service on the Lakes. His message was clear, direct, and grounded in experience, resonating with those in attendance.
On November 10, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald was less than 20 miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay when it vanished from radar, Pannell said. “No distress call was sent. No survivors were found. The storm that struck Lake Superior that night was brutal – hurricane-force winds with waves exceeding 30 feet. It tested the limits of every man, every rivet, every inch of steel.
“Among those aboard were American Maritime Officers members – licensed deck and engineering officers who served with the highest professionalism and skill. Like every mariner, they understood the risks. And like every mariner, they sailed anyway.”
Pannell continued: “Today, we do not gather in grief alone. We gather in remembrance, in respect, and in renewed commitment. We remember the names of the 29 lost. We respect the gravity of what it means to work these waters.
“To the families of the 29 men: your loved ones are not forgotten,” Pannell said. “Their memory lives on in the steel of every ship, in the curriculum of every maritime classroom, and in the watchful eyes of every mariner who looks to the horizon and remembers what’s at stake.
“May the legacy of the Edmund Fitzgerald continue to guide us,” he said. “Not simply as a story of loss, but as a call to action – a reminder of why we must always put safety first, why we must support and train the professionals who crew our vessels, and why we must never take lightly the power of the Great Lakes.”
The memorial was held outdoors on the academy waterfront in below-freezing temperatures with steady snowfall. Cadets stood in formation throughout the ceremony. Following the program, attendees placed carnations into Lake Michigan. The conditions on the shoreline reflected the kind of weather Great Lakes mariners routinely face in November.
The Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729-foot Great Lakes ore carrier, sank on November 10, 1975, during a severe Lake Superior storm while sailing from Superior, Wis., to Detroit, Mich. All 29 crewmembers were lost. As noted, the officers were represented by our union, a point of lasting significance for the membership of AMO. The loss remains one of the most examined and consequential maritime tragedies on the Great Lakes.
For Great Lakes mariners, the annual memorial is not symbolic – it reflects the harsh realities of their profession. The lessons of past casualties continue to shape training, seamanship, and safety culture today. AMO’s participation in the memorial underscores the union’s continued commitment to maritime education and to the next generation of licensed officers.
Fifty years later, the names of the 29 sailors are remembered, and the responsibility and vigilance of our profession endures among those who sail today.
