Posted on 05/27/2013 12:36:14 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
A team of U.S. wreck hunters, backed by the governments of France and Michigan, has revealed plans to dive next month to a site on the bottom of Lake Michigan, where one of the most important ships in Canadian history the 17th-century barque Griffon is believed to be lying in a tomb of sand awaiting conclusive identification.
The first sailing ship on the Great Lakes, the Griffon was built in 1679 near present-day Niagara Falls, Ont., by the famed French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and symbolized the ambitions of New France to construct and control a vast fur trade empire in the heartland of North America.
But the vessel, long sought-after by marine archeologists and hailed as the Holy Grail of Great Lakes shipwrecks, was lost with a load of pelts in a storm on Green Bay the 150-kilometre-long inlet in western Lake Michigan during its maiden voyage in September 1679.
La Salle, who led the construction of Fort Frontenac (the future Kingston, Ont.) and would later explore and claim the Mississippi River basin for New France was the first of many searchers over the centuries to look for the lost Griffon.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Canada Ping!
I had one of my physic episodes about this many years back. I think it’s much further south than they think.
Time for a Molson!
O’Keefe’s Extra Old Stock...great big taste!
I'm thinking the furs got wet...
No....I physically fell on the floor and the book popped open to Madison Wisconsin...voila!!
Wow, then the new mystery is how a whole ship went from the Great Lakes to a landlocked small lakeover a hundred miles away.
And that’s why they’ll never find it.
About that picture with the article.
Palm trees?
Got cha' on THAT one !
heh heh heh heh heh
Globull warming ... the pre-curser.
I guess I will have to go back and retake Physic Ed.
If you've never seen the Matagorda find of LaBelle....It's fascinating and on the web. Smeone had good instincts on that one.
Gotcha whata thata? Neener neener
Old Green Bay ship wreck ping
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
I want to know why Wisconsin is not included in this recovery effort? I also want to know what condition furs would be after lying at the bottom of Green Bay for 300+ years. I know that loads of timber that were lost in Lake Michigan are in beautiful condition when recovered because the cold water preserves the lumber. But fur????
They’re going down in about 3 weeks. Let me tell you, that water is COLD. I hope they have warming panels inside their dive suits.
According to Mr. AFTR, there is little bacterial action at Lake Michigan underwater temperatures, and the furs should be fine.
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