Cargo is scattered on the bottom with visibility typically ranging from 5 to 25 feet. Maybe somebody will find that ship someday,'and he touched me on the shoulder.". Be very careful of rock ledges and shoals on the south and east entrance of Jackson Harbor; stay between the red and green markers. However, historian Chuck Feltner disagrees. READ MORE:Nostradamus makes chilling 2022 'prediction' for EU collapse. Privacy | Terms | DCMA | FAQ. The delivery came down the St. Lawrence River between the United States and Canada and into Lake Michigan en route to Chicago, but somehow, the Union became aware of the delivery and attacked the boat. It wouldn't be the only supposed lost treasure said to lurk down in the depths of the Great lakes and it surely makes one wonder. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. Griffon, oldest Great Lakes shipwreck, under Lake Michigan somewhere You must log in or register to reply here. It is near tiny Poverty Island in northwestern Lake Michigan and about 50 feet below the water's surface. Any story that survives 100 years has to have some validity to it. Archaeologists have discovered a new communal grave tied to an infamous and bloody 1629 mutiny of Murder Island. Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season seven with Robert Stack and in season five with Dennis Farina. Pounded to pieces, the ship eventually sank. The Society's website, viewed last week, hadthree paragraphs about the Griffon, including the sentence: "In 2001, a famous Great Lakes shipwreck hunter, Steve Libert, claimed her wreck in northern Lake Michigan near Poverty Island." 10 Great Lakes Shipwrecks - Marine Insight Sailors and divers have had odd experiences near this wreck. In the end, America learned about the legend of Poverty Island, yet nothing except the excitement of celebrity really changed. Archaeologists Discover New Mass Grave From Notorious Shipwreck - History 'Holy grail' shipwreck haunted by doomed crew finally discovered 350 Feltner believes that the legend of the treasure is a good story, but holds no truth: Records of shipwrecks on the great lakes in the year 1863 are extremely good. After La Salle's exploits in the Great Lakes, he led his followers down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming all he'd seen for France. Extra Notes: This case originally ran on the November 11, 1994 episode. David Bagdon Did they, the people from "Unsolved Mysteries," believe it to be true? The plausible theory is that during the Civil War, a shipment of gold from Napoleon Bonaparte was being transported thru the great lakes down the Mississippi to fund the Confederate army. Explorers close in on 17th-century Great Lakes shipwreck Unless it can be shown that someone built a ship on the Upper Great Lakes before 1790 that includes all these characteristics-then this wreck is La Salle's "Griffon." This year, the Discovery Channel aired an episode of their series, 'Expedition Unknown,' filmed in part at the Mississagi site of the wreck off Manitoulin Island. The orginal 8 minute program was cut to 6 minutes because the program was moved into their 200th Anniversary Show. As the book states, "In 1678, La Salle led the first party of Europeans to Niagara Falls"; and that Hennepin "was the first to publicize the grandeur of the falls in his 1679 manuscript, 'A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America.' The story was convincing enough that several treasure hunters had tried and failed to find the reputed five or more chests of gold supposedly located somewhere on the islands coastline. The sunken salvage ship Captain Lawrence from 1933 was discovered in 1993 and found not to contain the gold. At 3 a.m. on September 19, 1933, a sudden wind blew the vessel onto the rocky shore of Lake Michigan's Poverty Island. The keelson structure with mast steps, paired floors and futtocks, and ceiling timbers all suggest a sailing craft, probably a schooner or schooner-barge, that was built and operated during the last half of the 1800s. It disappeared with a crew of six on its maiden voyage in 1679 after La Salle had disembarked near the mouth of Wisconsin's Green Bay. If walking toward the condos from the hotel, the El Camino Tower is the furthest oceanfront building south in the complex. Only then did Mr Libert and various archaeologists discover that the bowsprit and the remainder of the vessel were separate. I Often Hear That: I'll Share Some With You, TikTok and Its Strange Proliferation of Mysterious Accounts of Skinwalkers, Shamans, Psychedelics, and One Man's mystical Journey in the Amazon to Find a Miracle Cure. For students of history, of any age, the Liberts' book is a good example of using primary source documents old maps and woodcuts from centuries-old books; records left by Jesuit missionaries, who traveled through the area of the Griffon's last sightings in 1670-1672; and thediaries of expedition leader Robert Cavelier de la Salle and of the exploring party's missionary priest, Father LouisHennepin. What say you, Mate. "I'm an independent historian, and I thought our patrons would be interested," said Stozicki, who is president of the Rochester-Avon Historical Society. As a result, Libert has been diving intermittently in the Poverty Island vicinity since 1983. It was late August in 1994 when the crew of "Unsolved Mysteries" arrived, and the county was ready for them. Links: Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! I believe it is true. Firport International v. The Shipwrecked Vessel (6th Cir. 1999) A underwater tow sled is far more efficient. According to the boy, a storm hit that night, and the salvage ship sank with all the men on board. Covid microchip developer says there's no stopping roll-out, Covid warning as another new variant with '46 mutations' infects 12. Over a period variously estimated at 188 to 137 years, it has eluded platoons of treasure-The view from Poverty Island reveals a vast panorama of water . On November 21, 1996, a search team from the private research firm Intersal, Inc., operating under a permit from the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources found a cluster of cannon and anchors on the seabed near historic Beaufort Inlet. I have no problem that you are using the underwater shots, but I would like a photo/video by Richard T. Bennett tag. The Coronado shipwreck is located south of Hotel del Coronado, a historic hotel in San Diego, in front of the El Camino Tower of the Coronado Shores condos. To answer Joe from the 8-30-16 comment: Your right Joe, that was the point, to be odd. After two years sifting through satellite imagery, Mr Libert found what he believed was the rest of the wreck, and this was later confirmed in a September 2018 dive. I wrote a screenplay about a scuba accident and it was the thing sleepless nights are made of. In 1994, when countyresidents heard that a television crew was on its way to document a mystery, it seemed like the best of these worlds were coming together within the county. Did the salvage team really find the treasure? It wasthe first big ship to sail the Great Lakes. That sounds a little like maybe he found it and just sort of slipped away. Shipwrecks of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore - ArcGIS StoryMaps Id love to join Mr Bennett and help with the salvage, Im. Taking a new approach, Rick Lagina and Matty Blake return to Poverty Island in Lake Michigan to search for millions in missing Civil War gold. I have read the above comments and hope to provide you a feature movie someday. The cargo of furs, with an estimated value of 640,000 in todays money, likely sank with her. He mentioned this ship. That s interesting. Some is better than none, and you sleep well at night. The sunken salvage ship Captain Lawrence from 1933 was discovered in 1993 and found not to contain the gold. No new facts were discovered during filming,nor was any gold. At the time, one of the favorite routes of vessels making their runs was to take the Poverty Island Passage, between Poverty and the Gull Islands, as it was considered to be a sort of short cut, although this was balanced out by the dangers caused by the many shoals of the area. May I get to know you sir. Twelvemile Island Shipwreck - National Park Service There have been numerous quote-unquote discoveries of the Griffon that were neverproven," Adkins said. The wreck was found near Poverty Island on Lake Michigan, almost 350 years after it vanished. Professional diver and owner of a diving school and shop in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, Bennet became fascinated and obsessed with the legend of the Poverty Island lost treasure back in 1968, and has been looking for it ever since. He has spent many years in the Great Lakes searching for shipwrecks. The Lagina brothers, Rick and Marty . I think it was cases of rifles, now they would be contraband. According to the boy, a storm hit that night, and the salvage ship sank with all the men on board. The ship disappeared with all six crew members and its cargo of furs on its return trip of her maiden voyage that same year. However, Richard believes that there would be no record because the treasure was brought during a clandestine operation. Le Griffon was the first full-sized European style sailing ship on the upper Great Lakes that was built and commanded by the French explorer Ren-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679. The Griffin is believed to be the first ship of European design to sail the upper Great Lakes. People are dumb. The original story from the 1980s tells of a bartender from Washington Island that dove many times also looking for the five chests. Half an hour later, the ship listed to its port side, and passengers trapped below . The Great Lakes have provided transportation for Michigan's inhabitants for hundreds of years. More than 14,400 migrants have arrived in Italy by boat this year so far, compared to 5,470 in the same period last . Today, Richard Bennett feels confident that he will succeed where others have failed. He has identified a debris scatter in 40-60 feet of water, adjacent to the shore of Poverty Island, which includes planks, a cable, barrels, and several areas of magnetic declination. After the discovery of the bowsprit, a 10-year legal battle with the State of Michigan prevented explorers from excavating the rest of the ship. Watch Beyond Oak Island Season 3 Episode 6 | HISTORY Channel But then again, what if? In June 2019, further misfortune befell the 200-acre island, which was struck by on-and-off fires throughout the land. As he was pulling the chests up, one of the chests opened and the gold spilled to the bottom but he got four chests.When the person who wrote the story in the eighties tried to find the bartender on Washington Island to confirm the story he was long gone. Rum Runner, You are correct about many people looking for the Treasure of Poverty Island. A tempestuous isle of 1,000 shipwrecks - BBC Travel People believed the earth was flat for longer than that. Acouple in Charlevoix think they've found it. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The book is in 8 1/2" X 11" manuscript form and follows somewhat of a sequence of events. The White Whale for Great Lakes Shipwreck Hunters Up it came, just seconds away, a fortune in gold, when suddenly the chains broke. Despite that belief, there is a story that a group of sailors might have accidentally snagged one of the trunks in 1929. Fire Island, N.Y.: Tony . By Michael Greshko. The story ends with the bartender living in Hawaii and owning his own construction company. The Liberts arewell-known in northern Michigan for their decades-long campaign to find the Griffon, but this week's talk is Steve's first appearance in metro Detroit. The Old abandoned Lighthouse, thats on my Bucket List of places to photograph, looks over the waters where treasure chests full of gold were tossed overboard into Lake Michigan. While this sounds like just an old sailor's legend, there are some historical accounts that somewhat give the story credence. Suddenly, a large image appeared on their sonar. While tug boats draggedthe ship off the rocks, the tug boats' anchors snagged some wooden boxes and the chains that held them together. Likewise, they claim a bowsprit discovered a few miles away in 2001 is another part of the vessel. But how could $400 million in gold end up on the bottom of Lake Michigan? And dont even get me started on the whole God thing, singular or plural. The advantage today is the sophisticated equipment available for such endeavors its available however not inexpensive. On June 16, 2013, U.S. and French archeologists began examining an underwater object first discovered in 2001 near Poverty Island that could be the wreck of Le Griffon, although it will take time to determine if it is even a shipwreck.Le Griffon was the first full-sized European style sailing ship on the upper Great Lakes that was built and commanded by the French explorer Ren . Bennett, a professional diver and author of The Poverty Island Sunken Treasure Brief, has spent over forty-five years and $100,000 of his own money searching for the Civil War treasure. Divers reported that while looking up toward the . Is the treasure of Poverty Island real, or is it just myth and legend? Tantalizing stories like these have stoked the imagination of treasure hunters from all over the world, and one of the most well-known of these is a man named Richard Bennett. Ive always wanted to pull my sidescan around there a bit as it has phenomenal definition. When aUnion ship began attacking, the captain had the crew throw the treasure chests overboard in the waters off poverty island, so the gold could not be used by the Union Army, with the intention of retrieving it later. Even better than the equipment is luck Mel Fisher had this and it made him very successful where others failed. In an email, a DNR spokesman said the wreckage the Liberts have targeted can't be the Griffon: "Our archeologists review of recently published media images reveals the remains of a shipwreck that features typical late 19th-century Great Lakes shipbuilding materials and methodologies, and scantlings that are entirely too large to be a French colonial vessel. More: Travel the Great Lakes on a floating mansion with new Viking cruise ships, More: Report: Recycling in Michigan reaches 19.3%, up 35.4% in 3 years. Traveling up the seaway to the Great Lakes seems to me a very odd way to reach Richmond VA. You are now leaving Unsolved.com and heading to our shop at. The State of Michigan continues to prevent an in-depth excavation. There are treasure stories around us Loran had just came out and was available to the public. Shipwreck discovery may lead to Great Lakes treasure - USA TODAY and the expenses needed for this type of endeavor.l would welcome a discussion.