Event to remember sinking of the Fitzgerald

HURON TWP. — Nov. 10 will mark the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a disaster that killed all 29 crew members, including men from northern Ohio. Bay Area Divers, a group that hosts an annual meeting in Erie County, will be focusing on the historic event when the group hosts its Shipwreck Symposium and Shipwreck Banquet at Sawmill Creek Resort in Huron. Go to bayareadivers.net to buy tickets for the Shipwrecks and SCUBA event and learn more about the full day of interesting events. History lesson The Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest ship ever to sink in the Great Lakes, sank in Lake Superior during a storm on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship, 729 feet long, broke into two pieces when it went to the bottom. Many people will remember Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 hit, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." The crew members who died were from various Great Lakes states with quite a few from Ohio. The crew members included Ralph G. Walton from Fremont. Other crew members hailed from northern Ohio locations, such as Bay Village, Toledo, Ashtabula, Fairport Harbor, Oregon, North Olmsted and Lakewood. The ship's captain, Ernest M. McSorley, was from Toledo. McSorley's last radio message occurred at 7:10 p.m. on Nov. 10, 1975, to the Arthur M. Anderson, a nearby ship following the same route during a big storm, was "We are holding our own." But 10 minutes later, the Anderson could not find the ship on radar or reach the Fitzgerald by radio. Banquet to pay tribute The Bay Area Divers is bringing in a featured speaker to discuss the Edmund Fitzgerald at the group's Nov. 8 evening banquet. Thomas M. Nelson is the author of the book "Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy." He will be speaking on "how the Fitzgerald's story reflects a broader, often-overlooked narrative of labor, corporate negligence and economic unraveling in the late 20th century," according to the Bay Area Divers' website. Other presentations that will take place during the all-day event will include a talk on Great Lakes shipwrecks and on the TWA Flight 800 crash on July 17, 1996, when a TWA Boeing 747 airline crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, 12 minutes after taking off from New York City for a flight to Rome, Italy. All 230 people aboard the plane died. "Bay Area Divers, a north coast dive club, has been presenting stories of well-known shipwrecks for 41 years," the group said in a news release announcing the Nov. 8 event.