The 411-mile Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim, a Great Lakes relay commemorating the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the namesake freighter, has been suspended after the tugboat escorting swimmers lost an engine.
On August 9th, the relay reached Alpena when the 43-foot escort tug began leaking oil, stopping the schedule for a day. Without a replacement boat, organizers say the swim cannot be safely continued, and the remaining stages and the symbolic delivery of the Fitzgerald’s final cargo are in jeopardy.
The relay started July 26th at the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck site, 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Point. From there, swimmers intended to complete the freighter’s original route to Detroit, with an August 27th finish on Belle Isle, followed by a memorial service at Mariners’ Church.
The swimmers have faced challenging conditions from the beginning. They’ve reported respiratory problems, serious cramping, and 57-mph winds on one stage. The relay has drawn crowds at shoreline stops, including the Soo Locks, showing support for the swimmers.
There are 68 swimmers divided into teams of four per stage, working in half-hour rotations over 17 sections of coastline on Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Each athlete is hauling iron ore pellets to symbolize the ship’s last cargo, which will be presented to the mayor of Detroit at the end.
The fundraiser for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, which maintains the Whitefish Point Light Station, the lighthouse the Fitzgerald was heading for when it sank in 1975, has raised close to $200,000 to help fix the 164-year-old lighthouse.
“If we don’t have a boat, we really cannot continue until we do,” said Jim Dreyer, the organizer of the event on Sunday, to the Detroit Free Press, “I mean, as horrible as that sounds, there really is no other choice.”
Dreyer used to be terrified of the open water, even saying, “the open water was my biggest fear in life”. In the decades since, Dreyer is just the second man ever to solo swim across all five Great Lakes.
Built in 1958, the 729-foot freighter was headed from Wisconsin to Detroit with 27,000 tons of iron ore when it sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10th, 1975. All 29 crew members were killed, and it remains the largest ship to ever sink on the Great Lakes.
The swim is meant to honor not only the 29 crew members who died on the Fitzgerald, but also all other mariners lost on the Great Lakes. Whether the relay can resume will depend on finding a seaworthy escort quickly to lead the swimmers to Detroit.
I appreciated the Edmund Fitzgerald story even more in late May when I toured the North Scenic Shore for two days from Duluth to the Canadian border. Unbelievable conditions, with 38 degree temperatures and gale force winds.
I went to watch a scheduled use of the Duluth lift bridge. No chance. Ships couldn’t get anywhere near it. Too dangerous. Myself and two tourists from Virginia marveled at our good fortune as we held tight onto the bridge and watched the Lake Superior fury.
The timing was so fortunate as a Floridian. Last thing I wanted was placid and warm, per a week earlier. Even the locals were amazed at the conditions, especially for that time of year. I kept… Read more »
57-mph winds in August? Sounds like the gales of November came early. Again.
Why not have a back up host planned before attempting something like this?
How are the swimmers hauling iron ore pellets? (and how many?) That sure seems like it would make the swim more difficult.
They each consumed one representative pellet salvaged from the wreck. If a musky bites them before the pellet passes, I believe the combination will actually give them superpowers. It’s a bit of an unpredictable narrative though.
One fun thing to mention is that off the coast of Alpena is home to the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a spot named because it was notorious for shipwrecks. In fact, one boat (The Nordmeer) wrecked in shallow ground and was still visible above the water for about 50 years after. It’s a very popular dive site
Curious what the visibility is like in the lake.
Like visibility in the water or above the water?
Superior probably has the best visibility of the five. You can definitely see the fish when swimming around, and sometimes you can see kind of a long way – 100 feet or more.
Visibility underwater isn’t always great, which has to do primarily with nitrogen/phosphorous runoffs from surounding farms, which leads to more algae. Superior tends to have the least of this runoff so better visibility.
The one upside of the invasive zebra mussels and quagga mussels is that they’re filtering out a lot of algae. They’re super invasive, and a net negative, but yay water clarity?
Pretty much this. Admittedly the above water clarity hasn’t been great the last couple summers, but that’s due to the Canadian wildfire haze that’s been persistent for most of the summer. Without that, you can generally see out for a few miles. Under the water, clarity is great
Lake Superior is very clear, deep and cold. As they work down Lake Huron the water visibility reduces
Was this tugboat the pride of the American side?
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin?
I spent 6 years in the ’90s working in the engine rooms of the ships on the great lakes. I worked with the sailors who personally new some of those who perished on Edmund Fitzgerald. The “lakers” ships are really a huge barges. I remember spending many hours welding the cracks inside the cargo holds after unloading iron ore and before the grain could be loaded. Time was money…The last ship I worked on was m/v Jean Parisien owned by Canada Steamship Lines.
A little too on the nose
The gales of November came early.
This makes me like you all the more. Really hope they can work this out…having swum a bit in Lake Superior – it’s a spicy kind of cold.
“Great lakes” is my core aesthetic.
HOMES4Lyfe
no salt, no sharks, no worries.
STRONG disagree:
Also muskies are no joke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9fLUuVWSI8
muskie, schmuskie, not a shark
what’s a little lamprey gonna hurt?
This has moved to the pole position of my favorite “Braden Replies”
he pointed to centre field and swung for the fences!
‘Twas the witch of November come stealing.
Hope the cook doesn’t say: “It was nice to know ya.”
Does anyone know where the love of god goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours.
RIP Gordon Lightfoot and the 29 men who perished that awful November night.