Exploring the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point
While staying in Tahquamenon Falls State Park, we ventured up to Whitefish Point. The coast along this part of Lake Superior has seen hundreds of shipwrecks in the last couple centuries, so there is not a more appropriate location for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum .
One of the greatest mysteries of Lake Superior is the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which was one of the largest freighter ships on Lake Superior. The museum tells the tale of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and what we know of the ill fated ship and crew on the night of its sinking November 10, 1975.
What makes this wreck so unique, is that no SOS communication was sent by the captain to other ships in the area before it sank. The last communication that was sent by its captain was “We are holding our own”. This means that while we know it was in a bad storm with hurricane force winds and over 35 foot waves (which may have caused the wreck), there is no definitive proof of what took the ship and the lives of its 29 crew. Many excursions have explored the wreckage and historians have studied the wealth of data gathered and yet, it still remains a mystery!
On July 4, 1995, after almost 20 years, the bell of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was recovered from the wreckage. A replica with the names of all 29 lost crew was welded back to the site in its place. The original, as donated by agreement between the families of the victims and the museum, has been permanently placed in the museum for all to see. It serves as a hauntingly beautiful reminder of those lost that fateful day in November 1975.
If you make it up to this area definitely put this museum on your list to explore. The museum is amazingly well done and there is a lot more to explore on site.
