Detroit church changes memorial service

DETROIT, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A church service in Detroit that for three decades has honored the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald is becoming a memorial for all Great Lakes sailors.

The vessel, an ore carrier, sank in a storm on Nov. 10, 1975, on its way from Superior, Wis., to Detroit. Ruth Hudson of North Olmsted, Ohio, lost her son, Bruce, who was a deckhand on the ship.

"I feel comfortable with this," she told The New York Times. "I think it's time to do this. It's time to let it rest."

The sinking is the best known maritime disaster on the Great Lakes, mostly because of a ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," written in 1976 by Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot. For three decades, a service at the Mariner' Church in Detroit honored the 29 men who went down.

This year, the Rev. Richard Ingalls Jr., whose father began the tradition, is changing the emphasis, the Times reported. He says it is time to move on, especially since the Canadian government has declared the actual wreck, 500 feet down in Lake Superior, off limits to divers.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point, Mich., where the Fitzgerald's bell is kept, will continue to have its own service honoring the ship.