Searchers finally find ‘ghost ship’ that sank in Lake Michigan 140 years ago

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A shipwreck lost for nearly 140 years has finally been discovered at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Researchers have identified the wreckage of the F.J. King, a three-masted schooner that went down in a severe storm off the Wisconsin coast in 1886.

The Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association recently announced the discovery of a shipwreck near Bailey’s Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin. The team located the 144-foot vessel on June 28th. Built in Toledo, Ohio in 1867, the ship was transporting iron ore to Chicago when it sank.

Ship records show that waves as high as 10 feet broke open the ship’s structure. After hours of trying to pump out the water, Captain William Griffin and his crew were forced to leave the vessel. Fortunately, a nearby schooner was able to rescue them.

Okay, so everyone thought the F.J. King went down about five miles out, according to one guy. But the lighthouse keeper swore it was way closer, said he actually *saw* the masts sticking up out of the water near the shore. Because of all the different stories and the fact that nobody could ever find it, the ship just became known as a ghost ship – a real legend, you know?

Using side-scan sonar, Baillod’s team focused their search on a small, two-square-mile area close to where the schooner was first spotted. The sonar detected a 140-foot object less than half a mile away, and it turned out to be the missing schooner they were looking for.

Honestly, when we finally found it, a few of us were literally checking to make sure we weren’t dreaming! After all the times we’d searched and come up empty, it felt unreal that we’d actually stumbled upon it, and so fast too.

I was really surprised to see that the ship’s main structure still looks pretty good, even after carrying all that heavy iron ore! It’s a shame though – the pictures show it’s now completely covered in those pesky quagga mussels. It’s a bit sad to see something historic being overtaken like that.

This recent find is the fifth shipwreck discovered by the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association in the last three years. Their previous discoveries include the steamer L.W. Crane, the tugboat John Evenson, and the schooner Margaret A. Muir.

As a shipwreck hunter and gamer, it blows my mind that there are probably between 6,000 and 10,000 shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes! And the crazy part is, most of them haven’t even been found yet. It’s like a huge underwater treasure hunt waiting to happen.

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2025-09-17 13:21