The ship was thirty-nine feet tall, seventy-five feet wide, and 729 feet long.
Lightfoot’s lyrics had one error — the load was bound for Detroit, not Cleveland.
There were waves as high as 30 feet that night; so high they were picked up on radar.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was only 17 miles from safe haven (Whitefish Point).
The captain and a crew of 28 were lost.
For more see S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online.