We drove up to the old light station at Whitefish Point and saw the shipwreck museum there. This museum has always held a fascination about the Fitz, but now with the recovery of the ship’s bell, it has become an obsession. Now in addition to Gorden Lightfoot playing on endless repeat they now also have the bell.

On July 4, 1995, 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Point, a diver wearing a special one-atmosphere deep diving suit called a Newt Suit, cut the last stanchion that secured the Edmund Fitzgerald’s bell to the pilothouse. Slowly, gracefully, the 195-pound bronze bell ascended 500 feet to the surface, welcomed by the daylight of a pleasant summer afternoon. For family members in attendance that day, the raising of the Fitzgerald’s bell signaled the beginning of a memorial and closure to 20 years of grieving. A replica bell inscribed with e as a permanent grave marker. Wreaths, handwritten letters, poems, photos of children and grandchildren yet unknown to the lost crew were placed on the water over the wreck site as a gesture of farewell.

“Finally, we had our funeral. It’s a grave now. There is no reason why anyone should dive to the Fitzgerald again. Let them rest in peace.” —Ruth Hudson, mother of Bruce, 22-year-old Fitzgerald deckhand.