<P> Carrying a full cargo of ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command , she embarked on her ill - fated voyage from Superior , Wisconsin , near Duluth , on the afternoon of November 9 , 1975 . En route to a steel mill near Detroit , Fitzgerald joined a second freighter , SS Arthur M. Anderson . By the next day , the two ships were caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior , with near hurricane - force winds and waves up to 35 feet ( 11 m ) high . Shortly after 7 : 10 p.m. , Fitzgerald suddenly sank in Canadian ( Ontario ) waters 530 feet ( 160 m ) deep , about 17 miles ( 15 nautical miles ; 27 kilometers ) from Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste . Marie , Michigan , and Sault Ste . Marie , Ontario -- a distance Fitzgerald could have covered in just over an hour at her top speed . Although Fitzgerald had reported being in difficulty earlier , no distress signals were sent before she sank ; Captain McSorley 's last message to Anderson said , `` We are holding our own . '' Her crew of 29 perished , and no bodies were recovered . The exact cause of the sinking remains unknown , though many books , studies , and expeditions have examined it . Fitzgerald may have been swamped , suffered structural failure or topside damage , been shoaled , or suffered from a combination of these . </P>
<P> Carrying a full cargo of ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command , she embarked on her ill - fated voyage from Superior , Wisconsin , near Duluth , on the afternoon of November 9 , 1975 . En route to a steel mill near Detroit , Fitzgerald joined a second freighter , SS Arthur M. Anderson . By the next day , the two ships were caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior , with near hurricane - force winds and waves up to 35 feet ( 11 m ) high . Shortly after 7 : 10 p.m. , Fitzgerald suddenly sank in Canadian ( Ontario ) waters 530 feet ( 160 m ) deep , about 17 miles ( 15 nautical miles ; 27 kilometers ) from Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste . Marie , Michigan , and Sault Ste . Marie , Ontario -- a distance Fitzgerald could have covered in just over an hour at her top speed . Although Fitzgerald had reported being in difficulty earlier , no distress signals were sent before she sank ; Captain McSorley 's last message to Anderson said , `` We are holding our own . '' Her crew of 29 perished , and no bodies were recovered . The exact cause of the sinking remains unknown , though many books , studies , and expeditions have examined it . Fitzgerald may have been swamped , suffered structural failure or topside damage , been shoaled , or suffered from a combination of these . </P>
where was the edmund fitzgerald going before it sank
where was the edmund fitzgerald going before it sank
to a steel mill near Detroit
to a steel mill near Detroit