The brave sailors on the Arthur M Anderson trailed her in the storm until they received the message. They got to safety in Whitefish but those men, in an effort to save their fellow sailors, turned that ship around and plowed back into the deadly storm. 17 hours later the terrifying search ended without a trace.
The Edmond Fitzgerald was gone. The bell tolls today.
Yesterday, family members gathered at the Mariner's Church of Detroit, the 'Maritime Sailors Cathedral' of Lightfoot's ode. The church bells again chimed 29 times, and an extra one, for all the 30,000 plus lives lost in shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.