Eduard Bohlen, Namibia. Le Griffon: The Great Lakes' greatest mystery - Detroit Free Press Or, a Top Secret Human Experiment Gone Wild? It's a win-win. History: Richard Bennett, a professional diver and . Explorers close in on 17th-century Great Lakes shipwreck It is available here. The lighthouse was located on the southern end of Poverty Island and consisted of a circular brick tower connected to a brick dwelling by a covered passageway. Background: In 1863, as the tide of the Civil War was turning in favor for the Union, the Confederate States of America appealed to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte III for a secret shipment of gold to bolster their economy. Michigan Brothers Unearth 220-Year-Old Treasure Hidden In Oak Island The Titanic is undoubtedly the most famous shipwreck in history. After a long courtship and college degrees, they married in 1981. looking for the lost gold of Poverty Island. Archaeology breakthrough as 'cursed' shipwreck discovered after 350 Wisconsin. The delivery came down the St. Lawrence River between the United States and Canada and into Lake Michigan en route to Chicago, but somehow, the Union became aware of the delivery and attacked the boat. La Salle named the shipLe Griffon, after the mythical creature whose body of a lion has the head and wings of an eagle. Beat of luck be safe and careful. I cant believe how much I have learned about the US Civil War and all its components. Until that day, Lake Michigan will keep its grip on the five wooden treasure chests hidden far beneath its surface. Learn how your comment data is processed. Steve and Kathie Libert, of Charlevoix, said they've spent more than 40 years seeking the answer to one of North Americas most enduring mysteries the final resting place of the legendaryGriffon. First, the mystery, which centers on Poverty Island, a speck of rocky land off the eastern coast of Wisconsin in the constantly frigid waters of Lake Michigan. If any of the latter was true the ship would rest in deeper water instead of shallow waters.. Fire Island, N.Y.: Tony . The treasure plummeted back to its watery grave. From then on, Steve's obsession grew. In most versions of the tale, the chests, usually said to be five of them, were chained together, making it likely that if one is to find one, they will find all of them. They just sat there (on gun carriages). The only way to really find this treasure is to have human beings on the sled visually looking at the bottom. The scientists and divers searched a wider area Thursday near Poverty Island, a few miles offshore of a remote section of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with equipment that probes beneath the lake bed for signs of buried objects. Brent Swancer is an author and crypto expert living in Japan. M - Great Lakes Shipwreck Files The only way to really find this treasure is to have human beings on the sled visually looking at the bottom. My grandfather spent half of his life after coming home from WWII with a friend in Benzonia, MI. Le Griffon and the Huron Islands 1679: Our Story of Exploration and Discovery was written by Mr and Mrs Libert and published by Mission Point Press in 2021. I Agree With You Jean Anne Arden Ah Am A Little Bit Speechless If That Were Me I Would Display It In The Museum! [2][3], On June 16, 2013, U.S. and French archeologists began examining an underwater object first discovered in 2001 near Poverty Island that could be the wreck of Le Griffon, although it will take time to determine if it is even a shipwreck. Sailors in the 20s almost had the chests. What about that guy from escanba, that looked for it, and then retired in Florida. Its cold. One could hardly walk into a bank with hundreds of pounds of gold and cash it in. If you have finances why not do your own search. April 30, 2019. The Old abandoned Lighthouse, thats on my Bucket List of places to photograph, looks over the waters where treasure chests full of gold were tossed overboard into Lake Michigan. poverty island shipwreck Archaeologists have discovered a new communal grave tied to an infamous and bloody 1629 mutiny of Murder Island. Furious winds and lightning-swift currents have spawned a graveyard of sunken ships and over the years, intriguing tales of lost treasure. Door County is also known for are shipwrecks, Death's Door and legends On June 16, 2013, U.S. and French archeologists began examining an underwater object first discovered in 2001 near Poverty Island that could be the wreck of Le Griffon, although it will take time to determine if it is even a shipwreck.Le Griffon was the first full-sized European style sailing ship on the upper Great Lakes that was built and commanded by the French explorer Ren . Mr Libert said: The ship has no indications of fire damage to the wooden remains. In order to aid his driven search, he has enlisted the best equipment he can get his hands on, including a fiberglass homemade mini-sub to comb the gloomy depths at the bottom. Underwater Archaeologists May Have Discovered the Oldest Shipwreck in "That's when I learned about his attachment to the Griffon, and really to the Great Lakes and all shipwrecks," she said. Rumors were that the bartender found the gold. In 1994, a TV program investigated the Door County legend that $400 million in gold lies submerged near Poverty Island. St. Lawrence | Michigan Shipwreck Research Association Around 300 passengers responded by climbing on to the deck, with large waves washing some out to sea. Will the underwater sled find the treasure? Another skeptic is Corey Adkins, communications content director for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. "They weren't locked down. Maps of shipwrecks - Vivid Maps There is a reason why this book is accruate if not so well definded. Asked about the couple's claims, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources was quick to dismiss them. At the time, one of the favorite routes of vessels making their runs was to take the Poverty Island Passage, between Poverty and the Gull Islands, as it was considered to be a sort of short cut, although this was balanced out by the dangers caused by the many shoals of the area. FAIRPORT INTERN. v. Shipwrecked Vessel, 913 F. Supp. 552 (W.D. Mich Fact; The chests were not hooked by the salvage crew that were searching in the 1930's no matter what you may have seen on NBC's Unsolved Mystries. The team makes an astonishing discovery in the investigation of not just one but two shipwrecks. They must have a source where it could be integrated into a normal flow of gold supplies. The town has been Libert's year-round home since his retirement two years ago, and sits 70 miles across Lake Michigan from Poverty Island. The legend of Poverty Island gold had long been told among those who followed maritime stories and enjoyedtales about lost treasure. We are confident the ship was wrecked due to a severe storm. What about one of those small manned submarines?? Case File: Poverty Island Treasure I remember when we were working on raising the Alvin Clark from Green Bay Wisc.someone took our buoy off. Charlevoix couple offers theory on mysterious 1679 French shipwreck If they survive 100 years, they probably have an 80, 85% chance of being true.. By some accounts the ship was discovered by Union forces and sunk near Poverty Island, while others say it was dashed upon the rocks while attempting to make a misguided night run, and yet another version says they were attacked by French pirates. The bowsprit is believed to have broken off before the rest of the ship sank. The sunken salvage ship Captain Lawrence from 1933 was discovered in 1993 and found not to contain the gold. The Griffin is then said to have become a ghost ship, with the crew apparently heard chanting as she sails among the clouds on moonlit evenings. It may be difficult to identify the wreckage with 100% certainty, but park service officials said the Savannah is a top contender among Fire Island's known shipwrecks. Fairport International v. The Shipwrecked Vessel (6th Cir. 1997) While tug boats draggedthe ship off the rocks, the tug boats' anchors snagged some wooden boxes and the chains that held them together. Rick I live in the area of interested and have always wanted to dedicate time to something with allure. The heartless tides of Lake Michigan had once again reclaimed the Poverty Island treasure. 2101-2106, and filed a motion to dismiss. Looks like Marty Lagina has gotten wind of the story and is searching for it! The discipline it takes to write a screenplay is daunting at best. But there was no ship below, only hard-packed claylike sediment extending to bedrock 20 feet down. Suddenly, a storm descended on them, almost as if to deny them the treasure. Now, the celebrity part of the story. Like all adventures in treasure hunting there is a lack of funding. The ship was 64.8 metres (212 ft 7 in) long, with a beam of 9.9 metres (32 ft 6 in) and a draft of 3.7 metres (12 ft 2 in). Marty Lagina and Matty Blake return to the eerie waters surrounding Poverty Island in Lake Michigan to search for a lost Civil War treasure worth an estimated $400-million. It tells a story of one village in rural medieval Japan, following one boy Isaku, as his family struggles to get food essential for their survival. of that ship will never leat that trezer leave the merky deps of the water Poverty Islandis currently owned by the federal government. In 2001, a famous Great Lakes shipwreck hunter, Steve Libert, claimed her wreck in Northern Lake Michigan near Poverty Island. Hauling it by boat to the island was to dangerous, making the boat seem like towing a rock, so the lil craft never made it down to the bottom. The action steadily rises, but Bodeen . Tantalizing stories like these have stoked the imagination of treasure hunters from all over the world, and one of the most well-known of these is a man named Richard Bennett. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I have read alot about this. The heartless tides of Lake Michigan had once again reclaimed the Poverty Island treasure. The island is within Delta County in Lake Michigan and is home to the Poverty Island Light . The namehonoredCount Frontenac, the governor of all French territoriesin North America, whose coat of arms featured the symbol. Sailing northeast along the Door County archipelago: We hoisted full sail and 110 jib at the dock and sailed from Jackson Harbor , north and west between Washington Island and Rock Island. Above in this page talked about the sea stories he heard as a young man. During its voyage, the ship was discovered and chased. Did the salvage team really find the treasure? La Salle was certain that the captain and his men committed mutiny, sank the ship and absconded with all the furs.. sure some funds would help with equipment. To answer Joe from the 8-30-16 comment: Your right Joe, that was the point, to be odd. They say that big things come in small packages. Nov 01, 2022 | 41m 57s | tv-pg | CC. Decades after the 1933 shipwreck and Behrens's death in 1959, Steven Libert, president of Fairport, learned of the legend of the lost gold. Scuba Diving Haunted Shipwrecks | Scuba Diving We're just hoping and praying, if we could find one of those in the sand somewhere, that would prove everything," she said. Richard Bennett. Exposed timbers of the Twelvemile Island wreck (NPS Photo) SEAC and the Submerged Resources Center (SRC), in conjunction with the Slave Wrecks Project, were part of a federal, state, university, and private sector team assessing a reporter's claim that the wreck of the Clotilda - the last known ship to bring enslaved people to the U.S. from Africa -had been discovered near Mobile. True or not, the legend lives on for those who believe it and are brave enough to attempt the search in the cold and often stormy weather. so i thak people shood stop triying and this is my apinyin, i dont beleve this trezer reley egzists and i havint senn iny thing to shaing my mind. Thousands of vessels from canoes to car ferries and steamers to modern ore boats have sailed these "inland seas" and unknown numbers still remain - settled on the lakes bottom in watery graves. According to the boy, a storm hit that night, and the salvage ship sank with all the men on board. In 1984 he found an anchor. The sunken salvage ship Captain Lawrence from 1933 was discovered in 1993 and found not to contain the gold. Mr and Mrs Libert claim The Griffin matches wreckage found in 2018 near Poverty Island in Lake Michigan. In the storm, the salvage boat was lost. 9 Famous Shipwrecks in Greece - Greece Travel Ideas But then it becomes clear that this is the book's major flaw. Whatever the case may be, the gold either went down with the ship or was hidden on the island in order to be collected later or even thrown overboard to keep it from being captured. There are treasure stories around us Bennett has devised an ingenious underwater sled to comb the murky . Now they're retired in Charlevoix, a four-hour boat ride from the dive site that they hope will someday disprove thenaysayers. "I'm an independent historian, and I thought our patrons would be interested," said Stozicki, who is president of the Rochester-Avon Historical Society. i beleve the boxis of gold will never be found or brat up for the simpel fakt Subscribe Today! The Griffon had seven cannons, according to old French records, Kathie said. Their findings are detailed in the 2021 book Le Griffon and the Huron Islands 1679: Our Story of Explorations and Discovery. Professional diver and owner of a diving school and shop in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, Bennet became fascinated and obsessed with the legend of the Poverty Island lost treasure back in 1968, and has been looking for it ever since. I spent my summers for 57 years snorkeling swimming and fishing in bay de noc. Marty Lagina and Matty Blake return to the eerie . One day, Karl would claim that he had seen a salvage ship out in the water, allegedly excitedly working on dredging something up from the depths, after which the crews could be heard loudly rejoicing, but a storm would come in and sink the ship to send them and whatever they had found back to the bottom. Libert has been diving around Poverty Island since 1983. He has identified a debris scatter in 40-60 feet of water, adjacent to the shore of Poverty Island, which includes planks, a cable, barrels, and several areas of magnetic declination. As long as I have those things working for me, Ill probably continue to do it.. 1,517 people lost their lives. It is only a speck of rocky land just east of Wisconsin, surrounded by the chilly waters of Lake Michigan. But off Poverty Island, a dot of land in northern Lake Michigan near Escanaba, French-Canadian brigands attacked the treasure ship and sank it, the legend says. There have been numerous quote-unquote discoveries of the Griffon that were neverproven," Adkins said. Be very careful of rock ledges and shoals on the south and east entrance of Jackson Harbor; stay between the red and green markers. I for one started before we had any formal search devices, side scan, GPS that sort of equipment. At the couples condo, they showed the Free Press their underwater metal detectors, a wall of research books, and a sculpture of a Griffon the French coat of arms symbol for which the ill-fated ship was named as they made plans for Steve to dive again this summer. As long as I have those things working for me, Ill probably continue to do it. I almost came over to your house, to get your papers on the treasure. As the book states, "In 1678, La Salle led the first party of Europeans to Niagara Falls"; and that Hennepin "was the first to publicize the grandeur of the falls in his 1679 manuscript, 'A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America.' Griffon, oldest Great Lakes shipwreck, under Lake Michigan somewhere That in itself is rewarding. They pursued lifelong careers in Washington, D.C. Steve in Naval intelligence, Kathie withher own marketing firm but visited northern Michigan summer after summer. It is near tiny Poverty Island in northwestern Lake Michigan and about 50 feet below the water's surface. Dear Richard, Ive also have read, years ago, in newspapers about the five sunken treasure chests linked together in bottom of Lake Michigan. Aerial shots were taken by helicopter and the acting took place on Cana Island. Loran had just came out and was available to the public. The Liberts' book, Le Griffon and the Huron Islands - 1679: Our Story of Exploration and Discovery, is . Its littered with the bones, timbers and planks of wrecked vessels. Investigations: None Subscribe for new episodes announcements, latest news, featured cases, and more! At 4.30am on Monday 4 August 1845 in stormy weather, the Cataraqui struck a reef on the west coast of King Island less than 100 metres from shore. Traveling up the seaway to the Great Lakes seems to me a very odd way to reach Richmond VA. For students of history, of any age, the Liberts' book is a good example of using primary source documents old maps and woodcuts from centuries-old books; records left by Jesuit missionaries, who traveled through the area of the Griffon's last sightings in 1670-1672; and thediaries of expedition leader Robert Cavelier de la Salle and of the exploring party's missionary priest, Father LouisHennepin. In 1679, La Salle ordered his ship built in the wilderness above the great falls, launchingLe Griffon five months later in early May. Steve is scheduled to talk about the couple's lifelong questand sign booksat 7 p.m. Thursday at the Rochester Hills Public Library. The Griffin is believed to be the first ship of European design to sail the upper Great Lakes. Often considered the first ship lost on the Great Lakes, little was known about it until shipwreck hunters Stevie and Kathie Libert set to work. A bowsprit discovered a few miles away in 2001 is another part of the . At the time, Union forces were beginning to gain the upper hand in the war, and the cash-strapped Confederates were frantically trying to raise money for their war effort. David Bagdon Divers begin Lake Michigan expedition to find fabled Griffin ship That's a lot of our country," Steve Libert said. I wish you good luck in your endeavor. Ever since, it has remained one of Americas most notorious maritime mysteries. I'd be more than happy to help. The plausibletheory is that during the Civil War, a shipment of gold from NapoleonBonapartewas being transported thru the great lakes down the Mississippi to fund the Confederate army. The treasure story reaches back to 1863, when the tide of the Civil War was turning in favor of the Union. Is there a fortune worth of gold lying out there just waiting to be found? Results: Unsolved. History: Richard Bennett, a professional diver and author of 'The Poverty Island Sunken Treasure Brief', has spent over forty-five years and $100,000 of his own money searching for a Civil War treasure in Lake Michigan. The story was convincing enough that several treasure hunters had tried and failed to find the reputed five or more chests of gold supposedly located somewhere on the islands coastline. A 400-year-old silk dress discovered in a shipwreck off the Dutch coast has shed new light on a daring top-secret mission to pawn the crown jewels on the eve of the English civil war. Its deep. You are now leaving Unsolved.com and heading to our shop at. Download our app for the latest, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The area is very treacherous. In 1929, a group of sailors were said to have snagged the five chests with their anchor. Whether the Liberts found the Griffonor merely stumbled on the watery wreckage of some unidentified old ship, their book and the saga of their search open a door to the fascinating earliest days of European exploration inthe Great Lakes, before the founding of Detroit in 1701. In 1883, a retaining wall was built around . The wooden and steel vessels didnt sink, they floated onto the rocks, were smashed to pieces, and distributed by currents and waves all around the bays half under water until they became waterlogged and sunk. Dean Anderson, the Michigan State Archeologist, examined the object, an alleged "bowsprit," and determined it to be a fishing net stake. (Image: Great Lakes Exploration Group via Pen News). When we started it was dead-reckoning each time we went out. "Especially going back that far, it's really hard to prove things. Unfortunately for the crew, the anchor chain snapped to send it all tumbling back down into the murk, after which it evaded being found again. The ship was left stranded there in 1981, on the beach known as Valtaki. They did manage to find chains diving on a ledge about 80 down. Some say that the native Indians boarded the ship and killed the crew. Hopefully in the way the actual history may have unfolded. Without dreams life would be pretty boring. ON LAKE MICHIGAN NEAR POVERTY ISLAND, Mich. - In a remote part of northern Lake Michigan, divers have started looking at an underwater pit, hoping to find the resting place of the Griffin, a . There are several theories of where the chests came from, one of them being, Jesse Strang the King of Beaver Island and the leader of a Mormoncolony on Beaver Island with the gold was collected from his followers. "Adventures on Forty-one Islands: Island No. I wrote a screenplay about a scuba accident and it was the thing sleepless nights are made of. Rum Runner, You are correct about many people looking for the Treasure of Poverty Island. 2023 Copyright. Poor guy. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Steve Libert, a well-known Great Lakes shipwreck hunter and president of Great Lakes Exploration Group LLC, claimed he found the Griffon in 2001 in Northern Lake Michigan near Poverty Island. Often considered the first ship lost on the Great Lakes, little was known about it until shipwreck hunters Stevie and Kathie Libert set to work. I've been itching to get into wreck diving and searching, and up here in Minnesota, I was hoping to start soon. Or how many times they dived on each trip there.
