Long long ago a man by the name of Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle began a quest aboard Le Griffon across the great lakes. Little did they know, this would be their last adventure. It was the 17th century and all was well, him and his crew had gathered a large load of furs and were ready to return home. The ship was last seen sailing off near the mouth of Wisconsin’s Green Bay, it never touched land. No one knows for sure what happened to Le Griffon on that fateful day. The ship vanished; all six crewmembers and their collection of furs were never found, until today.
Steve Libert is a shipwreck hunter. He had been scavenging the depths of the Great Lakes for years. It appears his patience and hard work may have paid off, “This is definitely the Griffin – I’m 99.9 percent sure it is,” Libert said. “This is the real deal.”
Libert is nearly certain the wooden planks scattered amongst the Lakes floor belong to the Griffon, yet he acknowledged that his crew had found no “smoking gun.” In this case, he is referring to a cannon, or artifacts with markings engravings related to the Griffon. What makes Libert so sure this is his ship? He says that the nails and other implements appeared very similar to those from La Belle, a ship also led by La Salle that had once sank near the Gulf of Mexico.
It appears Libert may have come across a rich piece of history. However, this was no accident. He is a professional, someone who has spent countless hours mapping out the possible locations of this ship. The debris that were discovered cover the length roughly the size of a football field in depths of about 50 feet beneath the surface. The journey to unearthing the Griffon is not over yet. Libert need’s to acquire the rights to excavate the area, he hopes for this task to take place sometime in September.
As we wait until September how about we focus on this trend: Boats sink and fur is unlucky.
