<P> The disaster is one of the best - known in the history of Great Lakes shipping . Gordon Lightfoot made it the subject of his 1976 hit song `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald '' after reading an article , `` The Cruelest Month '' , in the November 24 , 1975 , issue of Newsweek . The sinking led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and practices that included mandatory survival suits , depth finders , positioning systems , increased freeboard , and more frequent inspection of vessels . </P>
song about ship that sank in the great lakes
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ''