e ship was lost along with all 29 men aboard. What happened to the ship is where the controversy and mystique about the ship comes into. Some say the two waves that rocked the Anderson, Picked up the Fitzgerald, and bottomed it out, bow first, breaking it in half, taking everyone aboard to the bottom of Lake Superior so fast. Others say the hatch closures were not closed correctly. Either way, well never know what really happened that stormy tragic night, of November 10, 1975.Surviving relatives of the Fitzgeralds crew requested that the bell be recovered to serve as a memorial to the 29 crew members who lost their lives. What makes the bell a fitting symbol, is that a ships bell is considered the heart of a ship because, traditionally, the bell was used to sound the time every half hour, to change the watch (every 4hours), to summon sailors to meals, and to serve as a warning signal whenever the ship was in fog of or other foul weather. Oglebay-Norton, the company that operated the Fitzgerald, maintained the traditional seafaring practice of sounding the watch with the ships bell on all of its ships even though the practiced was no longer needed. Because the Fitzgeralds bell was lovingly polished and used daily, it is a fitting symbol to honor the ships crew.After permits were granted by the Canadian government, the ship lays in Canadian waters, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Society began planning the complex recovery effort. On July 4, 1995 the bell and its stanchion were recovered, using a Newtsuit Atmospheric Dive System, from the top of the Fitzgeralds pilot house where the ship rests 530 feet below the surface of Lake Superior 17 miles from Whitefish Point.A replica brass bell, inscribed with Edmund Fitzgerald and names of all 29 men who perished, was placed on the pilot house where the original bell had been mounted.During a ceremony on July 7, the bell was presented to Candice Miller, Michigans Secretary of State, by Dianne ...
