Frederick Shannon made seven dives in 1994 to explore the wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald. "The tragedy still permeates the area," he says.

Enlarge 1994 photo by Frederick J. Shannon The wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald is pictured in this photo taken by Frederick Shannon from a Delta submarine. The explorer spent about $75,000 to lease a two-man sub in July 1994. Enlarge AP file photo by Burt Emanulle The Edmund Fitzgerald sails on the Detroit River before the 1975 tragedy. DETROIT  Great Lakes explorer Frederick Shannon retired from diving about five years ago because of declining health. The 64-year-old former police officer, who lives near Flint, Mich., is best known for his explorations of the wreckage of the sunken freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald. He spent about $75,000 to lease a two-man submarine to make seven dives into Lake Superior in July 1994. Many family members of the 29 crewmembers lost when the ship sank on Nov. 10, 1975, were unhappy when he ventured to the wreck site. They were even more upset when he announced that a body could be seen and that he intended to release photos showing the discovery. Shannon further angered many family members in 1995 when he sued to prevent the removal of the Fitzgerald's bell so it could be placed on display at the shipwreck museum in Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He lost the suit. Change of heart As the 35th anniversary of the Fitzgerald's sinking approaches Wednesday, Shannon says he now has a better appreciation for the pain felt by the crew's relatives. "If removing the bell from the Fitzgerald brought solace to the families, I'm all for it," he says. "I think they needed a physical thing for closure, and what better than the heart of the ship, which was the bell." The Edmund Fitzgerald's wreckage sits 530 feet below Lake Superior's surface. There are two large, intact sections at either end, but the middle was broken into pieces. The ship sank during a storm about 17 miles from Whitefish Point. It's one of thousands of shipwrecks that dot the Great Lakes, but it's easily the most famous, thanks in large part to Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 ballad, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It's not clear why the big ship sank as it traveled from Superior, Wis., on its way to Zug Island near Detroit with a load of taconite pellets, or iron ore. Theories on the sinking's cause abound. The uncertainty even prompted Lightfoot to alter his lyrics slightly this year after watching a documentary on the accident that suggested a rogue wave was to blame. Lightfoot eliminated a reference to a hatchway failure and the suggestion of human error. One thing is clear: The storm that battered the Fitzgerald was a monster, whipping the 729-foot freighter with hurricane-force winds and massive waves. Tom Farnquist, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in Whitefish Point, says he has heard blame cast on everything, including giant waves, UFOs and sabotage. "I still can't come up with a smoking gun," he says. "It's still a mystery." Shannon believes structural failure was the cause. "It had a lengthy record of maintenance issues," he says of the ship. "There's a lot of conjecture about its seaworthiness." Shannon and Farnquist are among the few divers who have seen the Fitzgerald wreckage. The number is likely to remain small because authorities in Canada have placed strict protections over the site to limit access. Although the official record lists the Fitzgerald's resting place in Canadian waters, Shannon contends part of the wreckage is in the USA. 'You have to tell the story' Ruth Hudson lost her 22-year-old son, Bruce, in the wreck. Hudson, who lives near Cleveland, says she prefers to celebrate the lives of the men who died. She says her son was on a break from his journalism studies at Ohio State University when he took a deckhand job on the Fitzgerald. She says Bruce had a great personality, played guitar and loved life. Hudson, who plans to attend a memorial service in Whitefish Point this year, doesn't know why the ship sank and would rather not talk about it. "It doesn't really matter now because you can't bring them back," Hudson says. Jon Soyring of Green Bay lost his uncle, Oliver "Buck" Champeau, an engineer on the freighter. Soyring says he has turned from a detractor to a supporter of Shannon, who he says got a bad rap. "The media slammed him as the Prince of Darkness because he found a body and photographed it," Soyring says of Shannon. "You have to tell the story, and the body is part of it." Soyring says the body was an important find because it indicates crewmembers knew the ship was in trouble before it sank, raising doubts about claims that the ship sank suddenly. He says he believes the ship broke apart on the surface because of structural problems. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. 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