The century-and-a-half-old shipwreck in Lake Michigan finally discovered after 50-year search
A long-searched-for ship has been found in Lake Michigan, 139 years after it sank during a storm.
A group of researchers in Wisconsin says it has found the wreckage of a long-lost ship that sank in Lake Michigan nearly 140 years ago.
In a statement this week, the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association (WUAA) said its team of “citizen scientists and community historians” has located the remains of the F.J. King, a 140-foot schooner that went down in the early hours of September 15, 1886.
An Ohio-built vessel, the F.J. King sank after encountering a storm off Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. The ship had been carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois.
Where was the F.J. King found?
The WUAA’s chief investigator, Brendon Baillod, told the Associated Press that his team found the F.J. King on June 28. The wreck was discovered off the coast of Baileys Harbour, a small town on the east edge of the Door Peninsula.
According to the WUAA’s statement, the F.J. King’s captain, William Griffin, had reported in the immediate aftermath of the shipwreck that the schooner sank around five miles from the coastline at Baileys Harbour.
However, the F.J. King was finally discovered closer to shore, less than half a mile from where the keeper of the nearby Cana Island Lighthouse had “reported seeing the masts of a schooner breaking the surface” on the night the the ship went down.
Ship found during “long shot” search
The WUAA said it discovered the schooner, whose disappearance had sparked repeated searches since the 1970s, during an expedition on which the group had very low expectations of success.
On the late-June expedition, WUAA’s researchers “considered the discovery a long shot and were mostly focused on learning about sidescan sonar and remote operated vehicle (ROV) technology”, the association’s statement explained.
“Two hours into the search, on only the second pass, a large object slowly scrolled onto the video screen,” the WUAA added.
“The WUAA’s new DeepVision sidescan sonar clearly showed the vessel’s hatches and enabled Baillod to measure the object. At 140 feet long, it exactly matched the length of the F.J. King [...]
“Remote operated vehicles were deployed and WUAA’s citizen scientists got to swim the ROVs down to the wreck. They were the first humans to lay eyes on F.J. King in 139 years.”
Baillod said: “The hull is remarkably intact. We expected her to be in pieces due to the weight of the iron ore cargo, but her hull looks to be in one piece.”
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