On November 10, 1975, an intense storm hit Lake Superior. Two vessels sailed through the night in hopes of reaching safe harbor before the weather worsened. The Captain of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, Ernest McSorley, responded to the concern of the Captain of the SS Arthur M. Anderson with a short message:
“We are holding our own.”
That night, Lake Superior took 29 men into the depths. Two of those men were sons of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
On Monday, November 10 at 5:45pm, DCMM will host a brief 50th anniversary memorial event on the waterfront behind the museum, honoring the 29 crew members of the Edmund Fitzgerald lost on November 10, 1975.
- A Prayer
- A Poem
- 29 Bells
Please dress for the weather.
Additionally, the lights of the Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower will be dark that night.
“We are holding our own,” is a highly personal temporary exhibit opening in October at DCMM in Sturgeon Bay, honoring the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the loss of two men from Door County – Oliver “Buck” Champeau and Russell Haskell.
The exhibit features original shipbuilding plans of the Fitzgerald, personal effects from Buck Champeau’s daughter Deb, and artifacts from the DCMM collection relating to the tragic loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The exhibition will be in the Ellsworth & Carla Peterson Special Exhibit Space at DCMM, and will run through the end of 2025.