DETROIT — Here in the Mariners' Church, planted in the shadow of the Renaissance Center at the corner of Woodbridge Street and Woodward Avenue, the gales of November seem to swirl in the air.
The English country gothic stone church has stood here for 176 years, welcoming sailors and grieving for them, offering prayers for shipmates setting out on the perilous waters of the Great Lakes and solace to families mourning doomed seafarers who, the Canadian balladeer Gordon Lightfoot put it, were swallowed by the waves breaking over the railing.
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