Madison, Wisconsin – After decades of searching the bottom of Lake Michigan, searchers finally found the wreckage of a cargo caravan that sank about 140 years ago in a fierce storm near the Wisconsin coastline.
The Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association announced Monday that a team led by researcher Brandon Baillod discovered the wreckage of FJ King. Baillod said in an email to the Associated Press that the wreckage is Discover June 28.
It was announced that Bellod’s team discovered Bailey’s Harbour’s ships on the Gate Peninsula in Wisconsin, a small town of about 280 people, a land that stretches into Lake Michigan, giving the state a unique handheld thebthumb shape.
King FJ is 144 feet (43.89 meters) and is a three-masted cargo cargo caravan built in 1867 in Toledo, Ohio, which transports grain and iron ore. According to the announcement of the Historical Society and the Archaeological Society, the ship hit a strong wind in the strong winds on the Gate Peninsula on September 15, 1886, while moving iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan to Chicago.
The waves were estimated at 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters) to break her seams, and after hours of pumping, William Griffin ordered his soldiers to enter the Yawl ship on board. The seat finally sank a bow and arrow around 2 a.m., and the ship’s stern deck was blown away in the storm, sending Griffin’s papers into the air 50 feet. A passing caravan picked up the crew and took them to Bailey’s port.
Searchers have been trying to find King FJ since the 1970s, but when the ship sank, the situation at the ship’s position was contradictory. Griffin reported that the ship was about 5 miles (8 km) from Bailey’s port, but a lighthouse guardian reported seeing the caravan’s mast break near the shore. Shipwreck hunters searched for the area, but were empty. FJ King has been known for his ghost ship among the shipwreck hunters for years.
Baillod believes that Griffin may not know where he was in the dark when he fell on the boat. He drew a 2 square mile (5.17 square kilometers) grid at the location provided by the Guardian of the Lighthouse and continued his search. The side-sweeping radar discovered an object about 140 feet (42.6 meters) from the lighthouse goalkeeper’s position. It turned out to be King FJ.
“Some of us had to pinch each other,” Bellod said in the announcement. “After all the previous searches, we couldn’t believe we actually found it, so quickly.”
The hull appears to be complete, and surprisingly searchers, who hope to find it in the debris due to the weight of the iron ore carried by the caravan.
The Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Society has now discovered five wreckages in the past three years. Earlier in 2025, the organization found Steamer LW Crane at the Fox River in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and tugboats John Evenson and Schooner Margaret A. Muir near Algoma, Wisconsin. Baillod discovered Trinidad, the Trinidad, near Algoma in 2023.
The University of Wisconsin Reservoir at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said the Great Lakes region was between 6,000 and 10,000 shipwrecks, most of which remain undetected. Shipwreck hunters have been searching for lakes in recent years due to fears that invasive Quagga mussels are slowly destroying shipwrecks. Photos of the FJ King website show that the wreckage is covered with them.
