As Offered

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. R. No. 219

2025-2026

Representative Williams

A R E S O L U T I O N

Honoring the Fiftieth Anniversary of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy and the lives lost.

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the 136th General Assembly of Ohio commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy and the lives lost, including seven from Northwest Ohio; and

WHEREAS, In its day, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes. Based out of Cleveland under a permanent charter of the Oglebay Norton Company, the vessel served several port cities along the Great Lakes, and during its lifespan, it set six international hauling records and traveled the equivalent of forty-four times around the world, earning such nicknames as the “Pride of the American Side” and the “Toledo Express”; and

WHEREAS, On November 10, 1975, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm on Lake Superior with the loss of all twenty-nine crew members, seven of whom were from Northwest Ohio, including Captain Ernest McSorley of Ottawa Hills. The ship was the pride of America’s and Ohio’s maritime shipping industry, and its loss claimed the lives of several of our state’s most skilled nautical crewmen; and

WHEREAS, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy is a somber milestone. The tale of the tragedy was immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and the valiant service and sacrifice of the ship and its crew have earned them a hallowed place in Ohio’s maritime history, a legacy that will long be remembered by the families of the victims and the communities served by the Fitzgerald; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the House of Representatives of the 136th General Assembly of Ohio, in adopting this Resolution, recognize the Fiftieth Anniversary of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy and the lives lost; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this Resolution to the news media of Ohio.