SPLIT ROCK LIGHTHOUSE, Minn. -- Dressed in a 1920s lighthouse keeper's uniform, Winston Norby pulled the rope to hit the bell's clapper against its bronze side, each of the 30 bell tolls ringing out from the shadow of the Split Rock Lighthouse.
A crowd of 1,500 people listened silently Tuesday as Lake Superior's waves calmly moved below the cliff and the blue sky began to take on a pink hue with the setting sun.
Each toll of the bell honored the SS Edmund Fitzgerald's 29 crewmembers lost when the freighter sank 40 years ago, their names and positions read by Ed Maki, whose wife's uncle Nolan Church of Silver Bay was among the crew lost on Nov. 10, 1975.
The Fitzgerald left Superior loaded with iron ore pellets on Nov. 9, headed for Detroit with a crew that included several from northern Minnesota. Caught in a storm, the freighter went off the radar near Whitefish Bay on the eastern neck of Lake Superior and sank 17 miles from the bay.
"And we'll have a final toll for all those lost on the lake," Maki said before a 30th bell toll honored the more than 1,000 mariners lost in shipwrecks on Lake Superior.
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After the bell's ring quieted, Split Rock's beacon began to circle and visitors lined up to have a peek inside, the only night the public is allowed to see inside the top of the lighthouse when the beacon is shining. Across the bay, photographers lined the state park's rock beach to capture the beacon at the top of the cliff, its beam of light reflecting on the dark water.
In the darkness, the lights of the Paul R. Tregurtha freighter floated by on the horizon, the ship having left Duluth earlier in the afternoon.
The 40th anniversary of the Fitzgerald's loss and the warm November weather brought out a larger-than-normal crowd for the beacon-lighting ceremony, said Lee Radzak, Split Rock Lighthouse's historic-site manager. Split Rock has been holding the annual commemoration for the Fitzgerald since the 10th anniversary in 1985.
The Nov. 10 commemoration always brings people whose relatives were among the Fitzgerald's 29 crewmembers. "It happens regularly that they show up," he said.
Mark Andres Sr. of Virginia was attending the commemoration at the lighthouse for the first time Tuesday. He loves history and is interested in shipwrecks, but he was attending because his son's great-uncle Frederick Beetcher of Superior was among the Fitzgerald's crew and his son couldn't be in attendance Tuesday.
"I'm just doing this for my son," he said.
The interest in the Fitzgerald has developed and grown over the years, Radzak said. Although many of the state park's 130,000 visitors during summer are interested in seeing the lighthouse and the lake, the visitors on Nov. 10 every year come to the park out of an interest in shipwrecks and will turn up despite the wintry weather typically seen in November.
"There's a certain set of people who love to be here in storms," he said.
Dale and Debbie Buss of Eagle River, Wis., were seeing Split Rock Lighthouse for the first time Tuesday.
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"We have a great interest in the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald," Dale said.
Dale became interested in the Fitzgerald after hearing Gordon Lightfoot's song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," but Debbie remembers when the freighter sank.
They attended the memorial for the Fitzgerald's crew at Whitefish Point Lighthouse, although Dale notes that it took several tries to attend because the gales of November provided difficult weather. After Tuesday's commemoration at Split Rock Lighthouse, the only memorial they have left to attend is in Detroit, Dale said.
Standing next to Split Rock Lighthouse before the memorial for Fitzgerald's crew, Debbie lauded the beauty of Lake Superior on Tuesday afternoon.
"Our area in Eagle River has 2,500 lakes, but two hours away, you can go to the biggest lake," Dale said. His wife quietly added, "The Gitchi Gumee."
