Great Lakes Memorial service held for those lost on Michigan waterways

Mariners’ Church of Detroit held its annual Great Lakes Memorial service at 11 a.m. Sunday. The service comes one year after Mariners’ Church hosted the 50th anniversary commemoration of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the worst, and certainly the best-known, maritime tragedies in Great Lakes history. On Nov. 10, 1975, the freighter, then the largest ship on the Great Lakes, sank during a powerful storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members. The disaster later became the subject of Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 ballad, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The service brought together an international audience of people wanting to pray for, and remember, the lives lost. “The Great Lakes are beautiful and a constant source of inspiration and joy for those of us fortunate enough to live by their shores,” said Rev. Todd Meyer, Mariners’ pastor. “But they can become dangerous and unpredictable in a flash. That’s why we take the time each year to reflect on those lives and to pray for safe passage and recreational enjoyment for all who spend time in and on the water.”