A debris field at the bottom of Lake Michigan may be the remains of the long-lost Griffin, a vessel commanded by a 17th-century French explorer, said a shipwreck hunter who has sought the wreckage for decades.
Steve Libert told The Associated Press that his crew found the debris this month about 120 feet from the spot where they removed a wooden slab a year ago that was protruding from the lake bottom. Libert believes that timber was the bowsprit of Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle’s ship, although scientists who joined the 2013 expedition say the slab more likely was an abandoned fishing net stake.
“This is definitely the Griffin – I’m 99.9 percent sure it is,” Libert said. “This is the real deal.”
He described the bottomland area as littered with wooden planks that could belong to a ship’s bow, along with nails and pegs that would have fastened the hull to the rest of the vessel and what appeared to be sections of a mast.
He acknowledged his dive team had found no “smoking gun” such as a cannon or other artifacts with markings identifying them as belonging to the Griffin. But the nails and other implements appeared similar to those from La Belle, another of La Salle’s ships that sank near the Gulf of Mexico, Libert said.
He said his organization has sent images of the debris to three French underwater archaeologists who took part in last year’s search, and that he hopes state and federal permits can be obtained to excavate in the area in September.
Read more: Explorer says griffin shipwreck may be found
