Patrick Durkin: Time to set the record straight on Edmund Fitzgerald

If you’re looking for ways to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking on Lake Superior, you’ll find many options across the Great Lakes region. Whether it’s tributes, fundraisers, memorial services or presentations about “what really happened” to the ship and its crew Nov. 10, 1975, you’ll find forums scheduled at churches, schools, museums and civic meeting rooms. Interest in the shipwreck hasn’t faded since last year’s 50th anniversary. Everyone on Facebook or Instagram can watch videos of waves breaking on icy cliffs and ships plowing through white-peaked seas. All of them feature Gordon Lightfoot’s epic 1976 song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” That maritime masterpiece inspires most of the fascination. It’s not just another sea ballad about lost sailors, sunken ships and widow’s walks. But not everyone recognized the song’s enduring power a half-century ago on Nov. 20, 1976, when it peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 songs list, beh