Fitzgerald Pellets

[Old Sailor]

I know someone who has some pellets from Fitz, while on the CG cutter that lowered the submersible. Said sailor interested on what to do with them.

[Guest]

It was interesting that Mixster mentioned in his book that numerous pellets "made their way" from the wreck site on the skids of the dive vehicle. More interesting is that the Canadian authorities allowed this.

I thought there was a video on YouTube showing the purposeful retrieval of taconite pellets by a submersible.

[Scott]

It was interesting that Mixster mentioned in his book that numerous pellets "made their way" from the wreck site on the skids of the dive vehicle. More interesting is that the Canadian authorities allowed this.

[Guest]

The iron ore pellets were consigned to Hanna - National Steel Corporation. U.S. Steel did not own the Zug Island steel mill complex at the time; that didn't occur until decades later.

Since the wreck of the Fitzgerald is in Ontario waters, the Provincial Government of Ontario would have say as to what could be removed from the wreck. As far as I know, removal of any items would be illegal, unless it's approved by the Province. Of course the bell was removed in 1996, but that only occurred after request by several family members.

The Province was pretty strict as to how far the underwater vehicles could penetrate into the wreck.

[Custom500]

The insurance company would own them, no? But if you have some, you can probably keep them, just don't tell anybody....

[Guest]

Zug island was destination. It was national steel corp at that time.

[guest]

At that time, the steel mill on Zug Island, Great Lakes Steel, was a part of the National Steel Corporation. I am not sure which type of pellets they were, but a guess would say they were Itasca pellets from the Butler Taconite Plant, owned by Hanna Mining & perhaps also National Steel.
The steel mill on Zug Island was quite a busy place in those days. It was the flagship mill of National Steel, with Weirton WV & Granite City, IL
being other major parts of the Corporation. National Steel was bought out by United States Steel Corporation in 2003.

[Scott]

I am curious as to whom the last cargo of the Edmund Fitzgerald was consigned to? Was this U.S. Steel at Zug Island? The reason I ask is that after her sinking there were "samples" of the cargo taken by those who dove to the wreck site. In the book The Trials of The Edmund Fitzgerald, Rick Mixter includes a photo on the back of the book which shows him with pellets retrieved from the wreck site. My question is, would those pellets belong to U.S. Steel or whomever they were consigned to? Or, after any insurance is paid off, are they simply artifacts at that point?