Sault Ste. Marie — Even before she went down, the Edmund Fitzgerald was arguably the most well-known freighter sailing on the Great Lakes.
People came from miles around to catch a glimpse of her and snap of picture or two of the famous freighter.
And some of those pictures would be seen around the world.
For almost as long as he can remember, Roger LeLiever has loved Great Lake freighters.
He written about them, sailed on them and photographed them.
But of all the ship’s he’s ever seen, the Edmund Fitzgerald stands apart from the rest.
“Oh, the Fitzgerald, we see that twice a week,” recalled Roger.
In the years since the Fitzgerald’s sinking, some of Rogers photos have become some of the most seen and well known of the Fitz.
“I remember where I was what I was doing when I heard about the Fitzgerald. I was a junior at Central Michigan University, and my friend from the Soo, Larry, called me up and said, we lost Fitzgerald. It went down. And I said, what do you mean that’s not possible? I remember that night. It was really stormy down in Mount Pleasant, and I just couldn’t believe that she was gone. It was just unfathomable to me,” said Roger.
Bruce Lynn with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society says the pictures captured by roger and others are critical to telling the story of the Fitzgerald.
“They were capturing pictures of the ship that, gosh, a year later, would become the most tragic story in Great Lake shipping. I it boggles the mind, but we’ve built a book exhibit surrounding some of those stories of those people that were taking these pictures, and then highlighting those pictures in the book, because in a lot of cases, they’re not professional photographers, but the pictures are fantastic and they’re so informal,” said Lynn.
And they’ll continue proudly telling the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew for the next 50 years and beyond.
“I sure have a moment, where I pause and I think about it and, you know, what I think about are all the people that are out there in the boats now, and they’re doing the same work that those, men on the Fitzgerald were doing. They were feeding their families. They were doing a vital service to the country. And I stop and I pause and I remember them as well as the people on the Fitzgerald. The unsung heroes are the mariners,” said Roger.