Larry Orr was working as a carpenter along Michigan's Lake Superior shoreline in 1975 when he found a life ring from the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and a piece of wood from one of its lifeboats, two objects that were connected to one of the Great Lakes' most famous shipwrecks. The discovery came shortly after the 729-foot freighter disappeared in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. The ship had been carrying iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin, toward Detroit when it encountered a powerful storm. According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History , the Fitzgerald faced winds reaching 75 mph, snow, and waves estimated at 25 feet. The vessel reported that it was taking heavy seas over the deck and had developed a bad list before disappearing from radar later that evening. The Coast Guard later located the wreck in about 530 feet of water, roughly 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Point. The ship had broken into two sections on the lake floor, and all 29 crew members were lost.
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