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Citizen Science Group Finds Elusive Wisconsin Ghost Ship

The Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association (WUAA) is pleased to announce the discovery of the long-sought wreck of the schooner F.J. King which foundered in a storm off Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin on September 15, 1886.

Principal investigator Brendon Baillod led the project, in which 20 citizen scientists and community historians from around the Midwest got to participate directly in the discovery of an historic shipwreck.  WUAA chartered the tour vessel The Shoreline from the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands in order to share the experience of searching for a lost ship with the larger community. 

Missing for 139 years, the F.J. King was one of the most highly sought lost ships on Lake Michigan and had been the subject of countless search efforts since the 1970s.  Green Bay based Neptune’s Dive Club had even issued a $1000 reward for its discovery.  She had developed a reputation as something of a ghost ship due to her elusiveness.  Area commercial fisherman claimed to bring up pieces of her in their nets and the local lighthouse keeper claimed to have seen her masts breaking the surface, but when wreckhunters scoured the area, they continually came up empty-handed.  The WUAA group consequently considered the discovery a long shot and were mostly focused on learning about sidescan sonar and remote operated vehicle (ROV) technology.

Two hours into the search, on only the second pass, a large object slowly scrolled onto the video screen.  The WUAA’s new DeepVision sidescan sonar clearly showed the vessel’s hatches and enabled Baillod to measure the object.  At 140 feet long, it exactly matched the length of the F.J. King.  “A few of us had to pinch each other,” remarked Baillod.  “After all the previous searches, we couldn’t believe we had actually found it, and so quickly.”

Remote operated vehicles were deployed and WUAA’s citizen scientists got to swim the ROVs down to the wreck.  They were the first humans to lay eyes on F.J. King in 139 years. 

The F.J. King was a 144 ft. three-masted wooden schooner built in 1867 at Toledo, Ohio by master shipwright George Rogers.  She was constructed for the grain and iron ore trades and designed to engage in trans-lake commerce through the Welland Canal around Niagara Falls.  She had a very successful 19-year career before taking on a cargo of iron ore at Escanaba, Michigan bound for Chicago.  When off the Door Peninsula, she ran into a gale from the southeast with seas estimated at 8 to 10 ft., which caused her seams to open.  The crew was put to the pumps but after several hours of hard labor, Captain William Griffin ordered the men to gather their belongings and get into the ship’s yawl boat.  At 2AM in the inky darkness, the F.J. King went down bow-first as the men pulled for shore.  They watched as the ship’s stern deckhouse blew off, sending the captain’s papers 50 feet into the air.  The men were picked up by the passing schooner La Petite, which took them to Baileys Harbor. 

Captain Griffin filed a wreck report at the Oswegatchie Customs House where the vessel was enrolled.  On it, he stated that he thought the vessel went down around five miles from shore in 25 fathoms (150 ft.) of water.  However, the next week, William Sanderson, keeper of the Cana Island Lighthouse reported seeing the masts of a schooner breaking the surface nearer to shore and reported the location to a local newspaper. 

WUAA’s find, although lucky, wasn’t accidental.  Baillod had collected hundreds of original documents about the ship and her loss.  He had corresponded with previous searchers who told him that the entire area had already been searched, but he wasn’t dissuaded.  Per Baillod, “We reasoned that the captain may not have known where he was in the 2AM darkness, but the lighthouse keeper’s course and distance to the masts were probably accurate.”  He drew a 2 square mile grid around the location given by Sanderson and the group proceeded to map the bottom within the grid.  The King turned out to be less than ½ mile from the light keeper’s account.  Per Baillod, "The hull is remarkably intact. We expected her to be in pieces due to the weight of the iron ore cargo, but her hull looks to be in one piece."

The find was reported to the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Archeology program, whose staff visited the wreck to document it and to create a 3D photogrammetry model.  Future plans for the site include nominating it to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.  The location will eventually be released to the public once the site has been listed on the National Register.

In addition to locating historic underwater sites, WUAA also works to interpret the sites to local communities and to help incorporate previously undiscovered sites into the community’s history.  “Finding an historic shipwreck brings with it a great responsibility,” said Baillod.  “People may not think twice about taking an artifact from an anonymous old shipwreck, but 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.”

This is the fifth significant shipwreck located by the WUAA and Baillod in the last three years.  This spring, the group located the steamer L.W. Crane in the Fox River at Oshkosh, Wisconsin and last year they located the remains of the tug John Evenson and the schooner Margaret A. Muir off Algoma, Wisconsin.  In 2023, Baillod located the fully intact remains of the schooner Trinidad in 265 ft. of water, ten miles off Algoma, Wisconsin.  The Trinidad and the Muir have since been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

WUAA plans to do more community-involved searches for historic underwater remains in the future and is interesting in partnering with local and regional historical groups to survey submerged landscapes that tell the story of Wisconsin’s underwater history.

A in-person presentation and opportunity to meet the discovery team will be held on [still being planned] at the Door County Maritime Museum, 120 North Madison Avenue Sturgeon Bay.  We will be giving 3D virtual reality tours of the wreck using the Oculus VR headset.

All images on this page are approved for publication by all media sources.

Please direct media inquiries to:

• Brendon Baillod, WUAA Principal Investigator - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 608.438.7246
• Robert Jaeck, Citizen Science participant - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 262.865.4869
• Tamara Thomsen, Wisconsin State Underwater Archeologist - tamara.thomsen@wisconsinhistory.org - 608.347.2822
• Kevin Cullen, Director, Wisconsin Maritime Museum - kcullen@wisconsinmaritime.org - 920.374.4006
• Sam Perlman, Deputy Director, Door County Maritime Museum - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 920.743.5958

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