Blow the man down -ringing bell still bugged

So I'm playing this part yet again and again I run into the issue that the bell cannot be rung. I have done all prereqs. The questbook says I need to ring the bell. Lamond and his pals are gone and so is the ship. The bell doesn't work. This has been reported many times, but still has not been fixed. I really don't know what triggers the bug. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work. This time it will not work. I tried reloading, visiting other places, but the bell will just not trigger the scene where Benweth comes out. Ugh.