After an extensive search spanning decades, the wreckage of a historic “ghost ship” that sank almost 140 years ago in a violent storm has been successfully located. The F.J. King, a 144-foot cargo schooner with three masts, was constructed in Ohio in 1867. It was transporting iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago on September 15, 1886, when a severe gale hit the vessel, causing it to succumb to the elements.
The long-awaited discovery of the F.J. King was made by a team led by researcher Brandon Baillod off Bailey’s Harbor, a quaint community of 280 residents on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula that extends into Lake Michigan. The Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association officially confirmed this significant find on Monday.
Despite extensive efforts by Captain William Griffin and his crew to save the ship by pumping out water, the F.J. King ultimately sank around 2 a.m. However, the crew was successfully rescued by another passing ship and taken to safety in Bailey’s Harbor. Over the years, conflicting reports on the ship’s location hindered researchers’ attempts to locate the vessel, earning it the moniker of a “ghost ship”.
Brandon Baillod, the lead researcher, suspected that Captain Griffin’s reported location of the shipwreck may have been inaccurate due to the storm’s disorienting nature. Instead, Baillod’s team focused their search within a two-square-mile area based on information provided by a lighthouse keeper. Their perseverance paid off when a side-scan radar revealed a substantial object measuring 140-feet in length, located half a mile from the keeper’s documented sighting.
The breakthrough discovery left Baillod and his team in disbelief, with Baillod expressing astonishment at the speed and success of their search efforts. This remarkable find follows recent revelations about the confirmed existence of another legendary shipwreck, the Spanish galleon San Jose, which held a colossal treasure estimated at £16 billion and was lost beneath the Caribbean waters for over three centuries.
The identification of the San Jose wreck near Baru Island in Colombia, where it sank in 1708 during a battle with the Royal Navy, has sparked a legal dispute over ownership of the valuable cargo. The ship, known as the “holy grail of shipwrecks,” was en route from Peru to Spain to fund the War of the Spanish Succession when it was intercepted and tragically lost during the confrontation.
The discovery of the San Jose wreckage in 2015 by researchers using underwater drones has provided conclusive evidence confirming its identity. Experts are now certain that the mystery surrounding the fate of the historic vessel has been definitively resolved, marking a significant milestone in maritime history.
