The SS Edmund Fitzgerald turned heads when she was launched in Detroit in 1958. The ship was longer and could carry more taconite than any other Great Lakes freighter, and it boasted plush quarters for the captain and sailors (carpeting! AC!), making it a sure bet to draw the best crew on the lakes.

So the 17-year-old vessel was already famous in shipping circles when, in November 1975, it ran into one of the nastiest Lake Superior storms on record. Battling driving snow, 100 mph winds and waves as high as 50 feet, the Fitz split in two and sank just short of Whitefish Bay, taking down with it all 29 men on board.

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