Swimmers prepped to finish journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald with 411-mile swim

CBS News

19-07-2025

The legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald is well-known on the Great Lakes.
On Nov. 10, 1975, the Great Lakes freighter was lost, along with her entire crew of 29 men, in a storm on Lake Superior, 17 miles off Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was supposed to finish her fateful voyage in Detroit, and this year that route will finally be crossed.
Jim Dreyer is no stranger to big swims, having swum across several Great Lakes. Now, the man known as "The Shark" has organized and will join dozens of swimmers in the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim.
"I want the legacy of these 29 men to live on," Dreyer said. "I was just thinking about the symbolism of all this. We are symbolizing their final journey, their final tragic journey. And I thought, 'How can we make this even more real?'"
The would-be last leg of that fateful voyage, remembered through these men and women who will break the waves one stroke at a time, starting on July 26 and lasting one month.
The swimmers will be carrying special cargo on their journey.
"Those are iron ore pellets from the same dock in Superior, Wisconsin, that loaded the Edmund Fitzgerald for the last time," said Dreyer while
Nearly 70 swimmers will embark on the 411-mile swim to Detroit.
"It's a tremendous honor. And I know all the swimmers feel that way. I certainly feel that way. I mean, I'm honored and humbled, you know," Dreyer said.
"The family members of the Edmund Fitzgerald crew, I've had the opportunity to interact with a number of them, and to me, it really underscores and puts a face on what we're doing and why we're doing it."
Each swimmer will carry a GPS tag, allowing followers to track them on a map for every leg. A documentary is also being produced about this swim. A documentary is also being made about the memorial swim.