Searchers have located the wreckage of the F.J. King, a “ghost ship” that sank in a storm nearly 140 years ago off the coast of Wisconsin. This discovery was announced by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association on Monday, marking a significant milestone in underwater archaeology.
The wreck was found by a team led by researcher Brendon Baillod, who reported the discovery occurred on June 28, 2023. The shipwreck lies off Bailey’s Harbor, a small community on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, an area known for its distinctive shape extending into Lake Michigan.
Details of the F.J. King’s Tragic End
The F.J. King was a 144-foot (approximately 43.89 meters) three-masted cargo schooner, constructed in 1867 in Toledo, Ohio. It was designed primarily for transporting grain and iron ore. The vessel met its tragic fate on September 15, 1886, during a fierce gale while carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago.
During the storm, waves estimated at 8 to 10 feet (about 2.4 to 3 meters) caused severe damage to the ship’s structure, leading to its eventual sinking. After several hours of futile attempts to pump water out, Captain William Griffin ordered his crew into the yawl boat. The ship sank bow-first around 2 a.m., and the storm scattered the captain’s papers across the area.
Fortunately, a passing schooner rescued the crew and transported them to safety in Bailey’s Harbor. For decades, searchers have sought the F.J. King, but conflicting reports regarding its sinking location complicated efforts. Griffin believed the ship sank roughly 5 miles (approximately 8 kilometers) off the harbor, while a lighthouse keeper claimed to have seen the masts nearer to shore.
A Breakthrough in Search Efforts
Despite extensive searches since the 1970s, the F.J. King had eluded discovery. Many shipwreck hunters reported finding various pieces of wreckage, but none were confirmed. Baillod proposed that Griffin may have misjudged his location in the storm’s darkness. He created a search grid around the lighthouse keeper’s reported sighting and utilized side-scan sonar technology.
On this occasion, sonar revealed an object measuring about 140 feet (approximately 42.6 meters) less than half a mile (about 0.8 kilometers) from the lighthouse keeper’s reported location. This object was confirmed to be the F.J. King, leaving Baillod and his team astonished. “A few of us had to pinch each other,” Baillod remarked, reflecting on the emotional moment of the discovery. “After all the previous searches, we couldn’t believe we had actually found it, and so quickly.”
The hull of the ship appears to be intact, which surprised the searchers who expected significant damage due to the iron ore it was carrying. This successful find adds to the growing list of shipwrecks located by the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association, which has discovered five wrecks in the last three years alone.
Earlier in 2023, the association located the steamer L.W. Crane in the Fox River at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as well as the tugboat John Evenson and the schooner Margaret A. Muir off Algoma, Wisconsin. Baillod himself discovered the schooner Trinidad off Algoma the previous year.
The Great Lakes are believed to be home to between 6,000 and 10,000 shipwrecks, many of which remain undiscovered. According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Water Library, recent searches have intensified due to concerns about invasive quagga mussels, which threaten the integrity of these historical sites. Photos from the F.J. King site indicate that the wreck is already covered with these invasive species.
This significant discovery not only sheds light on a tragic maritime event but also highlights the ongoing efforts to preserve and understand the rich history of the Great Lakes.
