A rare life ring from the 1975 shipwreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald that the state of Michigan obtained in a lawsuit settlement is displayed Oct. 12 outside Detroit. (Randal Smith via AP)

DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan is giving up ownership of a rare relic from the famous Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck, just weeks after it strangely obtained it through a settlement in a lawsuit that was completely unrelated to the doomed freighter.

Larry Orr is getting one of the ship’s life rings back — and the state will still pay $600,000 to settle his lawsuit over police misconduct.

“I feel a whole lot better,” Orr, 77, told The Associated Press this week.

In 1975, eight days after the Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, killing all 29 men, Orr said he found the life ring and a piece of a lifeboat

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