It's one of the most well-known shipwrecks in American history. Today marks 50 years since the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, but the legend of the lost freighter lives on. 

The gales of November came early in 1975, sealing the fate of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

"The more you learn about the story, the more you're drawn in. And of course, there's a mystery at the center of the story that perhaps can never be solved," says Jay Gabler, a reporter with the Duluth News Tribune. 

That mystery is knowing exactly how the water got in, sending the ship quickly to the bottom of Lake Superior. 

Like for many others, the popular '70s Gordon Lightfoot song about the sinking is what got Gabler hooked, inspiring him to create a new podcast about the wreck. 

"November is the month for shipwrecks on Lake Superior, the gales of November are a real phenomenon. This storm was unusual, but not necessarily once-in-a-generation unusual," Gabler said. 

The storm started just a day earlier in the Great Plains, as the Fitzgerald was starting its journey. The captain chose a route farther north in an attempt to shelter them from the worst weather. 

"Unfortunately, that may have spelled the Fitzgerald's doom, because it meant that they got to the edge of White Fish Bay that many hours later," Gabler said. 

The system quickly intensified as it raced toward the lake, whipping up sustained winds over 55 mph on the water, creating waves more than 25 feet tall. 

"So it seems that the Fitzgerald really found itself in the worst storm at the worst moment, which adds to the sense of tragedy, because if the timing had been different at all, it might have survived, like the Arthur M. Anderson and other vessels that were out on the lake that night," Gabler said. 

It's a disaster that has created change in shipping and forecasting, hoping to prevent history from being repeated.