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November 10, 2005 - 22:38
At Michigan ceremony, bell tolls for mariners lost in Edmund Fitzgerald wreck
WHITEFISH POINT, Mich. (AP) - Deborah Champeau-Felder stood silently Thursday as the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald clanged in memory of her father, one of 29 mariners who perished when the ore carrier sank in a vicious Lake Superior storm 30 years ago.
Then she kissed her right hand and laid it gently on the bell. "It's the soul of the ship, it's the soul of my dad," Champeau-Felder, 47, of Nashotah, Wis., daughter of assistant engineer Oliver Champeau, said later. "It's something I can't let go of."
Relatives of the crewmen and survivors of other ship disasters were among hundreds gathered for a memorial ceremony at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, the nearest spot on land to the Fitzgerald gravesite 27 kilometres northwest.
One by one, family members and other dignitaries stepped forward to ring the ship's bell as the names of the lost men were called. The bronze bell was recovered by divers in 1995 and is on display at the museum.
"I'm hoping my dad was standing next to me," said Pam Johnson, 53, of Abilene, Kan., daughter of steward Robert Rafferty.
The service was among many 30th anniversary observances taking place in the Great Lakes region, where the Fitzgerald is the most famous of more than 6,000 known shipwrecks.
"The legend still seems to be growing," said Tom Farnquist, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, which operates the museum. "I'm surprised the Fitzgerald is still as popular as it is."
The 222-metre freighter was caught in a catastrophic gale Nov. 10, 1975, after taking on a load of taconite iron ore at Superior, Wis. Gusts exceeding 145 km/h kicked up nine-metre-high waves as the ship struggled toward the safety of Whitefish Bay, in the lake's southeastern corner.
Capt. Ernest McSorley radioed the Arthur M. Anderson, a trailing freighter, that the Fitzgerald had topside damage and was listing. At 7:10 p.m., he told the Anderson's first mate, "We are holding our own." It was the last anyone heard from the Fitzgerald.
The ship plunged to the bottom, more than 160 metres down. Diving expeditions later determined the freighter had broken into two large sections, its cargo strewn along the lake floor. No bodies have been recovered.
"It's a sad thing, a terrible loss," said Roger Holl, 59, of Grosse Isle, whose uncle, George Holl, was chief engineer. "He was like a father to me."
The cause of the sinking is still debated.
The official U.S. Coast Guard report said improperly fastened hatch covers may have enabled water to flood the cargo hold, weighing down the ship and eventually leading it to nosedive into a huge wave.
Others speculate that the Fitzgerald ventured too close to the Caribou Island shoal and scraped the bottom. Another theory: The ship broke apart on the surface.
The uncertainty is one reason for the story's lingering appeal, Farnquist said. Another is the Gordon Lightfoot ballad, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which served to mythologize the tragedy in popular culture.
"There were modern aids to navigation, good weather forecasting . . . and yet a 729-foot ship disappears without a cry for help or survivors," Farnquist said. "The mystery prevails today, even after numerous dives have been conducted to explore for an answer."
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