Edmund Fitzgerald's journey resumes with memorial swim 50 years after sinking off Michigan
From The Times Herald (July 22, 2025)
Nov. 10, 2025, will mark 50 years since the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, killing its 29 crew members.
The large freighter was set to deliver more than 27,000 tons of iron ore to Detroit from Wisconsin, but it didn’t make it past Whitefish Point.
The boat’s journey will be completed by 68 swimmers over the course of a month in an event called the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim. The event will not include the part of the journey from Wisconsin; the swim will only resume from the place the ship sank Nov. 10, 1975, but it is still over 400 miles long.
Jim Dreyer, the second person to swim across all of the Great Lakes, created the event. Dreyer said that the event has been in the works since 2023.
What is the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim?
Dreyer described the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim as a monthlong, multi-person, historical, relay swim that will commemorate the men who died during the ship's sinking and honor its untraveled journey.
Swimmers Sheila Fitzgerald, Ed Shumaker and Sally Steinborn sit along the Lake Huron shoreline in Port Huron. The trio is part of a four-person relay team swimming in honor of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the 50th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
The swim will start at the site of the Edmund Fitzgerald's wreckage, north of Whitefish Point Lighthouse, and end at Detroit Yacht Club on Belle Isle — a few miles northeast of the ship's planned destination at Zug Island.
The memorial swim also serves as a fundraiser for the preservation of Whitefish Point Lighthouse, and the swimmers will be featured in the documentary “The Legend Lives on.”
Is there a Port Huron connection?
The Fitzgerald family’s maritime legacy in Port Huron began in 1837, when they emigrated from Ireland and settled in East China Township. The eldest brother, Edmond Fitzgerald, quickly turned from farming to life on the lakes.
The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, launched in 1958, was named for Edmund B. Fitzgerald, a descendant who served as president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, which commissioned the ship.
Dan and Sheila Fitzgerald are part of a wider effort to memorialize the 1975 wreck through a 411-mile open-water relay swim tracing the Fitzgerald’s intended route. Sheila signed up as one of the relay swimmers in the event.
Stage 15 is expected to reach Port Huron about Aug. 23. The swim team will take the St. Clair River and then cross Lake St. Clair as the swimmers head toward Detroit to finish the route.
Related: Here's why this family looks forward to honoring memory of Edmund Fitzgerald with 2025 event
When does the memorial swim start?
The swim is expected to start on July 26 and end on Aug. 27, followed by a memorial service Aug. 28 at Mariners Church of Detroit.
What is the swimming route?
The course is 411 miles long and has 17 stages. Each stage has four swimmers that will switch out every 30 minutes. Dreyer says first stage starts at the wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald off the U.P. in Lake Superior, travels through Lake Huron, and ends at Detroit.
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