November 10, 2025 marks the 50th Anniversary of the mighty Gales of November storm that sent the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald to a watery grave on the bottom of Lake Superior back in 1975. The late great Gordon Lightfoot introduced the term Gales of November into pop culture with his classic 1976 ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which tells the tale of her tragic fate.
November 10, 2025 is also the 20th Anniversary of the first Annual Gales of November program on KBOO hosted by Jack Bohl, Gordy Euler, and Jonathan Lay way back in 2005. Our Gales of November programs over the years have featured our favorite songs about shipwrecks, The Great Lakes, Pacific NW Maritime History, the Graveyard of the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River, mermaids, lost sailors, and other nautical mayhem. We always kept the mood light despite the serious material!
For this year’s 20th Anniversary show we will pay a more serious tribute to the Great Lakes, the ships and crews who braved the perilous Gales of November, especially the 29 crew members lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald 50 years ago. In their memory you’ll hear the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was recovered in the last dive to the wreckage at the bottom of Lake Superior in 1995, ring 29 times, “for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald,” to quote a line from Gordon Lightfoot’s masterpiece.
On November 4 Jack interviewed John U Bacon, author of the new book “The Gales of November” and in the second half of the program that focuses on the Great Lakes and the Edmund Fitzgerald you’ll hear the author’s captivating stories about the creation of Gordon Lightfoot’s enduring ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald“ and how Gordon Lightfoot grew close to the “wives and the sons and the daughters” and mothers of the crew of the Mighty Fitz.
- KBOO
Comments
Edmund Fitzgerald Articles and Video
Great article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nobody-knows-what-sank-the-edmund...
Cool photos: https://www.freep.com/picture-gallery/news/local/michigan/2025/10/22/edm...
The man in the white shirt in the doorway of the tugboat in the black and white photo with Zinn on the building in the upper right is probably my Dad, who was a tugboat captain in Milwaukee for 50 years.
Interesting article about diving to the wreck: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/11/02/edmund-fitzge...
Theories about what caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink: https://www.history.com/articles/edmund-fitzgerald-sinking-lake-superior
Documentary: https://youtu.be/_2f0tZBSByI?si=29qOwydMkYYnJDTL