A life ring from the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald will be on display and auctioned off in Detroit this month.
The life ring will be on display inside the gallery starting Friday, Dec. 12 and running into early next week before the auction ends on Dec. 19.
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The orange ring is owned by Larry Orr and the auction also includes a wooden plank from the Fitzgerald's Lifeboat 1.
On Nov. 18, 1975, eight days after the sinking of the Fitzgerald, Orr, who was 27 at the time, found the life ring and plank.
He was walking 30-40 feet above the shoreline of Lake Superior when he noticed both leaning against a large tree trunk in a wash that had been likely created by the high surf during the storm that sank the ship.
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“There was an eerie feeling. Maybe someone had survived,” Orr told the AP. “I looked around for footprints or any other sign of life for a while and never found anything.”
The life ring was loaned to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in 1988 until Orr put it up for sale due to health and financial concerns.
Earlier this year, the life ring and plank were included in a settlement between Orr and the State of Michigan, where the state took possession of both. However, the state later returned the life ring and plank to Orr.
