By Tim Binnall
A group of citizen scientists in Wisconsin found the final resting place of a 'ghost ship' that sank in Lake Michigan nearly 140 years ago. The discovery of the downed schooner, dubbed F.J. King, was announced on Monday by the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association (WUAA). The 144-foot-long wooden vessel, described as "one of the most highly sought lost ships on Lake Michigan," sank during a storm on September 15th, 1886. The F.J. King had become something of a white whale for wreck hunters over the years, as commercial fishermen often reported pulling pieces of the boat from the water, but searches of those retrieval areas found no sign of the craft.
That all changed this summer when a team from the WUAA was experimenting with "sidescan sonar and remote operated vehicle (ROV) technology" at Lake Michigan. A mere two hours into their excursion, they stumbled upon something extraordinary. To their astonishment, the underwater equipment detected a sunken ship that perfectly matched the dimensions of the F.J. King. "A few of us had to pinch each other," project leader Brendon Baillod recalled, "after all the previous searches, we couldn't believe we had actually found it, and so quickly." The crew subsequently examined the wreckage using their ROVs and confirmed that, in fact, the downed ship was the long-lost schooner.
To preserve the scene, researchers from the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Archaeology program created a 3D scan of the downed ship, which will be showcased in a virtual reality tour at an event later this month. Meanwhile, the WUAA is understandably keeping the location of the wreck a closely guarded secret until it can be listed on the National Register of Historic Places to prevent artifact hunters from looting the schooner. "Finding an historic shipwreck brings with it a great responsibility," Baillod mused, " once the vessel has a name, a story and links to the community, it becomes a part of the community’s history and even a source of tourism."