Tickets On Sale for MHSD Detroit River Cruise
Join members of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit aboard the passenger vessel Diamond Belle for a three-hour cruise from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, September 14, on the Detroit River.
We will do our best to get up close to freighter traffic. Snacks and refreshments will be available on the boat, which leaves from the Cullen Plaza at the foot of Rivard Street (1340 Atwater St.) Detroit.There is parking at Cullen Plaza (which often fills up early) and there is street and garage parking nearby.
Tickets are $28.50 (at the dock $30 cash or check only if space is still available). To buy tickets by mail, send a check, payable to the Marine Historical Society of Detroit, to MHSD Cruise, 1020 Iroquois St., Detroit, MI 48214. Late orders will not be mailed; they will be held for you at the dock. To pay by credit or debit card, go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6672663.
No refunds after September 7. We are limiting the number to 100 passengers so there will be plenty of room to move about the boat. Reserve now!
Marine Historical Society of Detroit
Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim to honor memory of lost laker
GRAND HAVEN, MI – To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald , 68 open water swimmers will participate in a 17-stage, 411-mile relay swim, starting from above the shipwreck in Lake Superior, and finishing in Detroit, the ship’s intended destination. The swimmers aim to symbolically complete the Edmund Fitzgerald’s final journey as a tribute to the 29 crew members who perished.
The Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim, is scheduled to begin on July 26, 2025, and will be the subject of a documentary film, entitled The Legend Lives On.
The 729-foot S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was bound for Detroit carrying over 26,000 long tons of iron ore when the ship went down in a violent Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, taking the lives of all 29 crew members aboard. The ship lies in Canadian waters, 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan.
Over the course of more than a month, 17 teams of 4 relay swimmers endeavor to cover the distance of 411 miles to deliver iron ore pellets to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. The pellets are from the same dock in Superior, Wisconsin, where the ship was loaded for the last time.
The event is being organized by Jim Dreyer, who has himself swam across all five Great Lakes.
“This special group of swimmers are dedicated to meeting the physical challenge of making it to Detroit for the 29 souls lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald while they were en route to Detroit 50 years ago,” Dreyer said. “This team is driven by a dual mission to preserve the memory of those who died while also preserving the Whitefish Point Light Station to safeguard mariners of today and tomorrow. To date, we have raised over $187,000 toward our mission.”
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society is the event’s official beneficiary and is charged with preserving the civil war era lighthouse, a most important beacon to all ships entering and exiting Lake Superior.
Brian VanderHoff, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, is swimming stage 10 from Sturgeon Point to Au Sable in Lake Huron, and was the event’s top fundraiser, raising nearly $9,000.
“The Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim is important to me because it commemorates the 29 lives lost in 1975 in Lake Superior, VanderHoff said. “Although I was young at the time, I learned about the wreck listening to Gordon Lightfoot’s song ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ throughout my life. I thought raising funds for the Whitefish Point Lighthouse as part of the swim was a great way to give back to the community as well as Michigan history.”
Tammy Lenarz-Carruth, a swimmer from Montevideo, Minnesota, has developed a special bond with family members of Paul M. Riippa, an Edmund Fitzgerald deck hand from Ashtabula, Ohio, who was a college football player and just 22 when the ship went down.
“I feel very honored to swim in memory of Paul Riippa who was just starting his life when he died on the Edmund Fitzgerald,” said Lenarz-Carruth.
“Being able to communicate with the Riippa family has been very meaningful and real to me. It has been heartwarming to learn about what kind of person Paul was and what his life was like in 1975. Paul’s older sister, Elaine Sespico, describes him as a ‘fine, young, athletic, Christian man. He was honest, dependable, loving and intelligent.’
“Being able to swim in Paul’s memory has brought the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim even more to life than it already is … and there are 28 more lives with their own stories. Paul’s life was cut short but not forgotten. I will think of Paul, his 28 crewmates and the Riippa family as I swim with my team, in stage 2, crossing Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior.”
The first 4 relay swimmers starting at the wreck site are Joe Barr of Manistique, Michigan, Daniel Chaffin of Moorpark, California, and a father-daughter duo of Dennis Crumpler from Union Hall Virginia, and Cat Murdock, of Marquette, Michigan. This foursome will participate in a memorial ceremony above the wreck while a memorial service is held simultaneously for family members of the crew at Whitefish Point.
The 4 relay swimmers finishing the swim at the Detroit Yacht Club, include Michigan residents Maddie Diedo of Dearborn Heights and Melissa DeLuka of Westland. Tracie Baker of Newberry, Florida, and Barry Alper of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, complete the foursome that will deliver the iron ore carried by the team from Lake Superior.
The iron ore is planned to be presented to the Detroit Mayor during the Mariners’ Memorial Service at the Mariners’ Church of Detroit on August 28th, the day after the swim is completed. In the service, the church bell will be rung 29 times for each crew member of the Edmund Fitzgerald, just as it was 50 years ago and as described in Gordon Lightfoot’s Grammy-nominated song.
The Reverend Todd Meyer, Pastor of the Mariners Church, will officiate both memorial services.
“The history of Mariners’ Church is forever intertwined with the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” said Rev. Meyer. “We are honored to offer a spiritual perspective at both the start and finish of this endurance swim. These memorial services will serve as meaningful bookends to an epic tribute—honoring not only the Fitzgerald’s crew, but all sailors lost throughout the maritime history of the Great Lakes.”
Dreyer says there may still be opportunities for others to join in the swim.
“I am truly honored to be directing this historic and meaningful event, Dreyer said. “I would like to invite others who would be honored to swim to join our waitlist. You never know what might happen and we could call on you.”
To learn more about the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim and to donate in support of the lighthouse preservation, please visit https://www.edmundfitzgeraldswim.org/
Algoma produces first steel from new electric arc furnace
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – Algoma Steel Group Inc., a Canadian producer of hot and cold rolled steel sheet and plate products, on Friday announced that it has achieved its first steel production at Unit One of its new, state-of-the-art electric arc furnace (EAF) project. The milestone follows over 10 days of successful electric arc testing and tuning, including individual and tandem tests of all nine Q-One transformer modules.
The first arc and steel production marks a pivotal milestone in Algoma’s transformation and positions the Company to better meet the evolving needs of its customers through the production of green steel – with the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 percent.
“We are proud to have reached this critical milestone in what is the largest industrial decarbonization project in Canada,” said Michael Garcia, President and CEO of Algoma. “This moment reflects years of careful planning, disciplined execution, and extraordinary effort since we broke ground in November 2021. Bringing the first EAF online during a period of trade uncertainty underscores our determination to innovate and lead, opening new opportunities as we begin to realize the full potential of EAF steel production.”
Algoma Steel Group Inc.
Neebish Island Historical Society among winners of history grant program
Barbeau, Michigan, June 11,2025 – The America250MI Committee has awarded Neebish Island Historical Society $5,000 as a part of the first round of the America250MI History Grant Program for Shipmates of Lookout #4 Restoration Project.
Lookout #4 is the last of seven lookouts used in the late 1800s and 1900s to track ships in the Lower St Marys River system and is located in Barbeau, Michigan. The project goal is to restore the lookout before nature takes what remains and to educate vacationers and residents about its history and role in the navigation of the shipping industry.
The America250MI History Grant Program is funding projects that will help preserve Michigan’s history for future generations. The grant program represents a key element of the state’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In 2020, Governor Whitmer directed the Historical Society of Michigan and the Michigan History Center to coordinate the state’s commemoration of the anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. The two organizations created the America250MI Committee to aid and advise this effort.
Neebish Island Historical Society
