MADISON (WKOW) — November 10 marks a tragic chapter in Great Lakes history. The freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a vicious storm on Lake Superior, taking 29 crew members with her.

For many in Wisconsin, the day is more than a passing anniversary; it's a reminder of how powerful the lakes can be.

“You know that when they say, the six degrees of separation? It's much closer here in Wisconsin and in the Midwest," said Tamara Thomsen, maritime archeologist with Wisconsin Historical Society. "About everyone that you talk to is probably one step or two steps away from someone who worked on the Edmund Fitzgerald, someone who had a relative that was lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald, or someone who was connected to working in the ports.”

When the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald launched in 1958, she was

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