Le Griffon Shipwreck Found - After more than 300 years since it disappeared with its six-man crew Le Griffon, the first ship ever to sail the Great Lakes, has been found by two treasure hunters.
The 17th century vessel is prized as the first European ship ever to sink in the depths of Lake Michigan just after leaving Green Bay, Wisconsin during its maiden voyage.
The illusive Le Griffon shipwreck was reportedly found by Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe, who say they stumbled on the prized ship while looking for gold under the Great Lakes in 2011.
"We were literally in the water for a couple of hours when we got hit on the sonar," Dykstra said. "When I was down there, I turned around and I was literally four feet from this shipwreck and I never saw it on my way down, so my return trip was quite fast."
The Le Griffon shipwreck has been sought after for many decades, however nobody has been able to provide verifiable proof of its existence.
"It really wasn't until we got back to a computer and viewed the photos that I realized I very well could have been photographing the Griffin," Dykstra said.
Among several pictures of a sword, old cannons and a carving of the mystical animal, the griffin, Dykstra and Monroe brought back a nail as evidence from the Le Griffon shipwreck found. The pair said a magnet attached to their scuba gear caught the nail while they were measuring the ship.
According to reports, the nail has been examined by historians who believe it was handmade around 1679 and was aboard the vessel when it disappeared.
Le Griffon was built by Robert de La Salle, a French explorer, who was exploring the Great Lakes region in the 17th century. The vessel is said to be originally designed to haul furs from the Green Bay area to Detroit.
"If you take the picture of the craving of the griffon and overlay it on what these gentlemen have, it's very compelling," said Joe Porter, publisher for Wreck Diving Magazine. "It's the holy grail of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes."
Dykstra and Monroe say since they were looking for about $2 million in gold bullion believed to have been lost at Lake Michigan in the late 1800s, they would not disclose where the precious ship was found.
They say they want to preserve it so historians can examine and collate the history preserved aboard. The pair are confident that since they found the illusive ship they would find the gold they were initially looking for.
"We found the mystery ship, the Griffin, now we're going to find the gold," said Monroe.
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