Shipwreck hunters have solved a more than century marine puzzle by discovering the intact wreck of the F.J. King, a three-masted cargo schooner that sank in Lake Michigan during a violent 1886 storm.
The Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association declared the discovery Monday, September 15, 2025 after researcher Brendon Baillod's team located the vessel on June 28, 2025 near Bailey's Harbor.
The 144-foot schooner, built in 1867 to transport grain and iron ore, encountered a severe gale on September 15, 1886, while carrying iron ore from Michigan to Chicago.
The stormy waves with eight to ten foot height broke the ship’s seams, forcing Captain William Griffin and his crew to abandon ship in a double masts-yawl boat before the vessel sank.
Captain Griffin reported the ship went down five miles offshore, while a lighthouse keeper spotted masts closer to shore.
The crew was rescued by a passing schooner, but the ship's location remained disputed for generations.
Search efforts since the 1970s proved fruitless due to conflicting accounts about the sinking location.
Baillod's team finally succeeded by focusing on a 2-square-mile grid near the lighthouse keeper's observation, where side-scan sonar revealed the remarkably preserved wreck less than half-mile from shore.
The discovery marks the fifth wreck found by the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association in three years.
The Great Lakes contain an estimated 6,000-10,000 shipwrecks, though invasive quagga mussels now threaten these historical sites.
