State archeologists say a shipwreck found in Lake Michigan is probably not the oldest known wreck in the Great Lakes. But the state will dive the site and see what is there.
The French ship, the Griffin, disappeared in 1679 after leaving Green Bay. It was built by the French explorer Robert de La Salle, though he was not on it when it was lost loaded with furs heading back to Montreal. Two divers from the Muskegon area, Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe, think they found its remains.
State archeologist Dean Anderson is unconvinced. He says the wreck recently discovered doesn’t match what is known about the Griffin.
“The wreck that their looking at has been measured at 79 feet,” says Anderson. “The Griffin was probably at about 40 feet.”
If it is the Griffin, the remains of the ship would belong to France.
In 2013, French archeologists came to Michigan and dove on another site off the Garden Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula. They found only one wooden beam. Some researchers involved with that excavation now think the beam was left from a fishing net set in the 1800s.
