Joseph W. Mazes, special maintenance man onboard the Fitz when it sank, was born on February 13, 1916 in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he was raised and lived for his entire life.  He had no children and no wife, but he did have four siblings: John, Louis, and Stella, and one other who died in the 1950's.  Joseph loved his siblings very much.  His mother and father's names were Josephine and Anthony.  Anthony died while his children were still in school.

     During his free time, Joseph LOVED to fish...it was his first love.  When he was not on the Great Lakes, (he only got a break for 2 months out of the year) he was usually ice fishing all winter long.  "He also liked to hunt for deer and snowmobile," as his nephew, Joe Sajdak, recalls.

     Joseph Mazes was a very kind man who loved to give his family gifts; he was very generous all of the time, even though he was only home two months out of the year.  Joseph sailed on the Great Lakes for thirty years, and the season that the Edmund Fitzgerald sailed in 1975 was going to be his last.  One interesting thing that Joe Sajdak (his nephew) remembers is that Mr. Joseph Mazes always said he was afraid of Captain Ernest McSorley.  "McSorley would never pull out of a storm," and "he always put the ship in conditions that no one would ever think of," were the words he remembered.  Mazes explained McSorley's personality as a person who was caught up in making money for the company more than keeping himself and his crew safe.

Joseph W. Mazes 1916-1975

Special Maintenance Man, S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald