Thursday, November 10, 2005
Night Watch for the Edmund Fitzgerald

On November 10 the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and the Great Lakes Maritime Institute will hold a special remembrance for the 30^th Anniversary of the loss of the Great Lakes freighter S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald. From 4:30 - 8:00 pm that evening events will recall that sailors who sail the inland seas, are sometimes placed in peril.

The events will begin at 4:30 by placing of 29 illuminated lanterns around the anchor of  the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald that rests in the yard of the Dossin Museum on Belle Isle.  At  5:00 pm the Great Lakes balladeer Lee Murdock will begin a concert in the DeRoy Hall Auditorium.

At 6:30 pm Captain Donald Erickson of the Ford Fleet will recount the night 30 years prior that his crew of the S.S. William Clay Ford went into the stormy seas north of White Fish Point to search for and survivors of the lost Fitzgerald.

At 7:10 pm the names of the lost crew members will be read and ship's bells will be tolled. This will be followed by Bishop Ingalls of Mariner's Church whose ringing of the church bells is part of Gordon Lightfoot's famous ballad on the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The event will also be webcast  on www.glmi.org. The GLMI that is sponsoring the webcast will be charged for each person viewing on line, and would appreciate a donation to offset the bringing of this special program to numerous home computers.

Click here for the webcast page

Saturday, November 12, 2005
Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald

On Saturday November 12, 2005, from 12:00 to 4:30 pm, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum will be hosting a very special open house to remember the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald. Sessions will focus on the fact that the vessel was constructed at the Great Lakes Engineering Works on the Detroit River and provided raw materials for local steel companies. Along with workers from the Great Lakes Engineering Works, family members from the last crew of the Fitzgerald will be on hand to talk to the public and share their memories and memorabilia. In addition the public can tour the pilothouse from the S. S. William Clay Ford and meet her Captain Donald Erickson who participated in the search for the Fitzgerald on the night of November 10, 1975.

This special open house comes with the cooperation of the Great Lakes Maritime Institute, the Great Lakes Steel Boat Club, the River Rouge Historical Museum, the J. W. Westcott Company, Mariner's Church, the U.S. Steel Company, and other individuals.

Numerous stations will be established in the Dossin Museum to allow the public to see historical memorabilia and talk to those who have a 'Connection to the Edmund Fitzgerald'. There will be a number of video presentations on the large screen in the DeRoy Hall Auditorium showing the launching of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and other aspects of the vessel's career, including the tragic loss on November 10, 1975.