the griffon shipwreck facts

The Plaque reads: After launching, it sailed the Niagara River to Lake Ontario, onward to Lake Erie, then by way of the St. Clair River to Lake Huron and northward to St. Ignace, the Straits of Mackinac and, finally, Lake Michigan. Pictures show the bow of the ship with a carved sculpture. Michel L'Hour, a French government archaeologist who's been called 'Indiana Jones in a diving suit', took part in the excavation and theorised that the rest of the ship was nearby. Only then did the Liberts and the Great Lakes Exploration Group discover that the bowsprit was separate from the remainder of the vessel. Libert said the book reveals the location of the Huron Islands where Robert La Salles ship, Le Griffon, met her fate. For the second time, they used a dozen men and ropes to tow Le Griffon over the rapids of the St. Clair River into lower Lake Huron. We have been on the hunt for over 40 years systematically ferreting out the locations of this widely scattered wreck, he says, referring to his wife, Kathie, and himself. The couples book shares details of how they believed the ship sank near the Huron Islands, a group of small, rocky islands northeast of Green Bay. Several French explores built the exploratory vessel Ren-Robert Cavalier and Sieur de La Salle. Over the years there have been 22 claims of the discovery of the Griffon. Ever since I was a junior high schooler in Dayton, Ohio, Ive been interested in this ship, Libert said. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [8], La Salle's men first had to build their lodging and then guard against the Iroquois who were hostile to this invasion of their ancient homeland. The Atlas may be the oldest confirmed commercial schooner discovered in the Great Lakes. The griffin is featured on one side of coins minted in Abdera, Greece. La Salle and Father Louis Hennepin set out on the ship during its maiden voyage on August 7am , 1969 along with a crew of 32. On 27 December 2014, two divers, Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe, announced the discovery of a wreck that they believe is Le Griffon, based on the bowstem, which to some resembles an ornamental griffin. WWII German shipwreck found in Black Sea Airborne laser reveals hidden city in Cambodia The ship, commanded by the French explorer La Salle, was never seen again after setting sail in September. Because his second account has numerous exaggerations and cases where he credits himself for things that La Salle had done, Hennepin's first account is considered more reliable. They made their way north and west to Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron where they were becalmed until noon of 25 August. Finding the wreck is the goal of most Great Lakes shipwreck hunters due to the notoriety, and they call it the Holy Grail amongst them. They are schooners, freighters, steamships, tugs and fishing boats, and thanks to the cold, fresh water, many of them are perfectly preserved. The ship was righted and brought back to the port in Milwaukee and returned to service. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Single mother faces 170 parking fine after overstaying at McDonald's for just 14 minutes while she treated Public Service Announcement, do NOT watch these ads! The Griffin - a ship that was 'cursed' by native tribesmen - has been identified nearly 350 years after it vanished, solving one of America's oldest and most notorious maritime mysteries. Le Griffon was the first ship of thousands to disappear in our upper Great Lakes, Libert, president of Great Lakes Exploration Group LLC, told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Armament: 50 iron cannons total. Forsberg said several of the bolts. That is simply not true.. Addressing his problems long delayed his return to the expedition. 2 - The Almiranta, Santo Cristo de San Roman, Nuestra Seora del Rosario y San Jose (Presumably a galleon). There the crew ignored a warning from local Native Americans not to sail into the lake from the safe harbor at Washington Island because of high wind danger from a massive storm. - News and information from student journalists at the Michigan State University School of Journalism, About the Michigan State University School of Journalism, Michigan Chile Investigative Journalism Program, MSU journalism COVID-related reporting guidelines, Upcoming court ruling could impact trial court funding as deadline approaches, Why does your vote matter? Tests on the ship part are dated to 1679; close to a year, dating of the wreck is 1632 to 1982. Native tradition holds that The Griffin became a ghost ship, whose crew are sometimes heard chanting as she sails among the clouds on a moonlit night. MARIE, CHEBOYGAN AND ALL POINTS. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. WHITEFISH POINT, MICH.- The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) is proud to announce the discovery of the 292-foot Whaleback vessel, Barge 129. Ive seen dozens and dozens of 100- to 150-year-old ships, and that is not a 350-year-old ship. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. The Griffin, which disappeared on its maiden voyage in 1679, has been called the 'holy grail' for shipwreck hunters probing North America's Great Lakes. On its maiden voyage, it sailed across Lake Erie, up the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, and across Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Or the Jesuits had something to do with the disappearance. Experts suspect the ship was lost as a consequence of a severe storm. Green and Ken Vrana, the principal of Maritime Heritage Consulting, advocate an independent assessment by professionals. Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. He walked right behind me and put his hand on my shoulder and said, Perhaps someone in this class will find it someday. I was listening to every word, says Libert, now 67. 'She will sink beneath the deep waters and your blood shall stain the hands of those in whom you trusted!'. Several historical and genealogical references show the Griffin making such journeys in 1633 and 1634. We have corrected the story and replaced it with video and pictures that belong to FOX 17 News and Kevin Dykstra. "When we had it looked at, they [the archaeologists] could tell that the nail was very old," Dykstra said. That is my question. That evidence? LeGriffon launched on Aug. 7, 1679, with LaSalle, Father Louis Hennepin and a crew of 32. This ship was 471 tons. turtix/Shutterstock. Valerie van Heest, a member of the board of directors of the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association, says, There have been 30 or more discoveries of the Griffon dating back to early 1800s. Van Heest responds, Most people that are not dreamers say that for it to still exist, it must be in deep water not affected by ice and storms.. Dykstra said he took photos of old cannons, a sword, and the griffin sculpture, evidence he says reveals the wreck and itsmissing secrets. Unexpectedly, a nail attached itself to the magnet, and the treasure hunters only discovered it later, once they were above water. The Griffin - a ship that was 'cursed' by native tribesmen - has been identified nearly 350 years after it vanished, solving one of America's oldest and most notorious maritime mysteries.. She was the largest sailing vessel on the Great Lakes up to that time. It was another vessel used by La Salle and Tonti, however, that was the first loss on 8 January 1679. Capital News Services articles may be reprinted exclusively by subscribing media organizations. Rene-Robert Cavelier , Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer in 1679 and he wanted his ship, Le Griffon , to sail the Niagara River, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan in order to . They were trying to chart a path from Great Lakes in North America to China and Japan if a route is there. [citation needed], After La Salle and Tonti left, the pilot and the rest of the crew were to follow with the supply vessel. Its discovery is credited to wreck hunters Stevie and Kathie Libert for the record. A teacher from Ottawa named Roy Fleming, in the 1930s through the 1950s, expanded the investigation of this wreck that he firmly believed was the Griffon. Ive seen dozens and dozens of 100- to 150-year-old ships, and that is not a 350-year-old ship. They were open vessels (no deck) made of wood measuring up to about 35 feet (11m) long and capable of carrying three or four tons of cargo. Libert said some theories are supposed to explain what happened to the vessel. A couple in Charlevoix . An Indian prophet called Metiomek of the Iroquois said legend had cursed the ship before it left; he told its owner La Salle it would sink deep water. Thought the bowsprit discovered about 3.8 miles and the remains of the wreck make the Indian attack not possible, or even a mutinous uprising. [4] La Salle dressed in a scarlet cloak bordered with lace and a highly plumed cap, laid aside his arms in charge of a sentinel and attended mass with his crew in the chapel of the Ottawas and then made a visit of ceremony with the chiefs. 'We are confident the ship was wrecked due to a severe storm. Loaded with furs in what's now Wisconsin, the Griffon was said to have sunk somewhere in northern Lake Michigan in 1679. The captain lost control of the ship as strong winds blew it away from shore, southward, toward islands in the distance. His conclusion: The remains of the ship Le Griffon in French sank in shallow water in the Huron Islands of northern Lake Michigan, northeast of Green Bay, Wisconsin, with the loss of all the crew members aboard. Many explorers have claimed to havefound Le Griffon in the past, but Dykstra and Monroe are the only ones who've foundan actual ship wreck. "Can we call this the Griffin? Usually depicted as half lion and half eagle, this ancient beast is more than the sum of its parts. But the ship vanished while delivering a valuable cargo of furs, amid rumours that she had been cursed by a prophet from the Iroquois tribe. Where are the cannons? LANSING Historical mysteries may take decades, even centuries, to solve if ever. Le Griffon. @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. once I broke the surface. An Antarctic explorer's ship has been discovered 106 years after it sank. Dan Scoville, Jim Kennard, Craig Hampton, and Roland Stevens located the steamer thirty miles east of Fair Haven, New York - The Canadian schooner Royal Albert has been discovered in deep water off the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Fair Haven, NY. Widely considered the Holy Grail of undiscovered Great Lakes shipwrecks, the Griffon carried no treasure, nor anything. They arrived late on 5 December, but the weather was rough and they did not want to run the surf and outflow of the river at night, so they stayed a few miles off shore. That is simply not true.. La Salle decided to visit the Senecas at Tagarondies himself. "It's very difficult to access a wreck based on photo and film footage," Anderson said. "They lost the ship from sight," Baillod said, "and that's the last anybody has ever seen the Griffin.". Updated. I thought, I gotta find this ship. The story my history teacher proceeded to tell immediately caught my full attention and like most young men, stirred the imagination of early exploration in an unknown country. B. Mansfield reported that this "excited the deepest emotions of the Indian tribes, then occupying the shores of these inland waters". ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Le_Griffon&oldid=1121719205, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2015, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Disappeared on the return trip of her maiden voyage in 1679, This page was last edited on 13 November 2022, at 19:58. But Libert says, Many people believe I continue to cry wolf and contact the press every time we find a wreck claiming them to be the Griffon. Cathy Green, the executive director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, is also skeptical, calling it highly unlikely that its the Griffon and nearly impossible to definitively know because of the centuries of damage to shallow water wrecks from ice, storms and rising and falling lake levels. A bowsprit discovered a few miles away in 2001 is another part of the vessel, they claim. Shipwreck of the SS American Star. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. They concluded it was likely a bowsprit dating from a ship hundreds of years old, although some think it was a common pound net stake used for fishing nets in the 19th century. The remains of the 300-year-old ship known as Le Griffon the first European vessel known to have traversed the waters of the upper Great Lakes have proved so tricky to find as to become the stuff of legends, even prompting Atlas Obscura to dub the wreck the "white whale for Great Lakes shipwreck hunters."The location of the ship's final resting place isn . Several French explores built the exploratory vessel Ren-Robert Cavalier and Sieur de La Salle. Mr Libert believes the Griffin was caught in a four-day storm and the bowsprit, which was held in place only by wooden wedges, broke off before the rest of the ship sank. Police raid online sensation shop Wakey Wines looking for drugs as owner famous for his Prime Not so shipshape! It was built by the French explorer Ren Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, with a view to finding a route through the lakes to China and Japan. The wreck's discoverers agree that more evidence is needed. Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Pictured: Some of the wreckage. [In Photos: Arctic Shipwreck Solves 170-Year-Old Mystery]. Possibly a cannon, hopefully with the date stamped on it.'. [citation needed], In July 1679, La Salle directed 12 men to tow Le Griffon through the rapids of the Niagara River with long lines stretched from the bank. ', Shipwreck hunters Steve and Kathie Libertset out their case for having discovered the ship in a new book, Le Griffon and the Huron Islands 1679: Our Story of Exploration and Discovery, A scan of the wreck taken by the Great Lakes Exploration Group. While they were at times fitted with mast and sails, their primary propulsion was either oars or poles. Possibly a cannon, hopefully with the date stamped on it.' Pictured: Images of the 2018 dive on a wreck found in 2018 near Poverty Island, Lake Michigan. The Native Americans told La Salle the crew planned to sail toward the Straits of Mackinac in stormy weather. Heres the backstory as Libert tells it: LaSalle built the Griffon as his flagship upriver from Niagara Falls, probably on what is now the Canadian side of the Niagara River. They are considered to be symbolic of power . Alpena County reference. They discovered a 15-inch slab of blackened wood that might have been a human-fashioned cultural artifact. The two treasure hunters were taking measurements of the ship when Dykstra's magnet, tethered to his scuba gear, picked up an object that few people have ever seen: a hand forged nail that dates back to 1679. Titanic Artifacts Found, New Discovery Mission "Like Opening a Treasure Box", Adolf Hitler's Lost German U-Boat Allegedly Has Dead Nazis Aboard Along With Gold, Treasure, Antony Blinken Urges End to War in Face-to-Face Meeting with Sergei Lavrov on Sidelines of G20 Summit, Ukraine Official Says Kyiv Forces May Pull Back From Bakhmut as Wagner Surrounds Key City, Post-COVID Lung Health: Coping with Shortness of Breath and Other Respiratory Symptoms, Japan Hits Record Low in Birth Rate as Officials Consider Child Care Policy, Blame Citizens' Lack of 'Romantic Ability', Tom Sizemore Update: No Further Hope for Saving Private Ryan Star After Brain Aneurysm, TikTok Develops Tools To Help Parents Prevent Teens From Accessing Inappropriate Content, Set Time Limit. The cursed shipwreck, the 'Griffin,' is an incredible find with the history and the tales associated with it till now. They again sounded their way through the narrow channel of the St. Clair River to its mouth where they were delayed by contrary winds until 24 August. In 2011, Michigan-based treasure hunters Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe found a shipwreck as they were searching for the $2 million in gold that, according to local legend, fell from a ferry crossing Lake Michigan in the 1800s, they told WZZM, a western Michigan news station. 'The distance of 3.8 miles between the bowsprit and main sections highly suggests the Indians did not sink it either, nor did La Salle's men mutiny and sink the ship. Le Griffon may have been found by the Great Lakes Exploration Group but the potential remains were the subject of lawsuits involving the discoverers, the state of Michigan, the U.S. federal government, and the Government of France. "It's a mystery ship that got in our way," Dykstra said, "and now, we're going for the gold.". The two men did not bring up the nail on purpose, and they plan to return it to the state, said Dean Anderson, the state archaeologist for Michigan. [1][4] Beginning on Christmas Day, 1678, La Motte and Hennepin together with four of their men, went by snowshoe to a prominent Seneca chief who resided at Tagarondies[notes 2] a village about 75 miles (120km) east of Niagara[notes 3] and about 20 miles (32km) south of Lake Ontario. La Salle oversaw the laying of Le Griffon's keel and drove her first bolt. Its fate has been a puzzlement for maritime historians for more than three and a half centuries. Revealed: The top 10 fastest-growing destinations for UK pensioners retiring overseas. LOCAL COURT FUNDING: A quarter of local trial court funding is set to expire in 2024 or even earlier if the state Supreme Court says judges cant continue to impose costs on convicted criminal defendants. Wherever the Griffon is, if its in deep water somewhere, there are cannons near it, she says. CNS correspondents cover all aspects of Michigan state government. The griffin is a legendary creature with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body, tail, and hind legs of a lion. Griffin was the name of a 17th-century ship known to have sailed between England and English settlements along Massachusetts Bay in British America. French explorer Ren-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle built the Griffin in 1679, but it was lost in Lake Michiganthe same year. At the time, no other wreckage was found, but scientists noted other wreckage may not be far away.[16][17]. Tonti's journal says it was adverse winds. Characteristics Physical Description "An expedition of historic significance: the search for the elusive, "France claims historic Great Lakes wreck", "Great Lakes Exploration Group, France and Michigan Establish Cooperative Agreement For Shipwreck Exploration", "Divers begin Lake Michigan search for Griffin ship", "Griffin Shipwreck: Wooden Beam Not Attached To Buried Vessel, Researchers Say", "Explorer says Griffin shipwreck may be found", "Treasure hunters find mysterious shipwreck in Lake Michigan", "Four reasons why the Frankfort-area shipwreck can't be the Griffin", "Le Griffon: The Great Lakes' greatest mystery", "If you are in need of a mystery, here is a historic puzzle: What happened to La Salle's Griffon? A party from the Iroquois tribe who witnessed the launching were so impressed by the "large floating fort" that they named the French builders Ot-kon, meaning "penetrating minds", which corresponds to the Seneca word Ot-goh, meaning supernatural beings or spirits. Each November, the East Lansing Film Festival showcases independent films. Mr Libert said: 'There are numerous theories as to what happened to The Griffin. Cris Kohl and wife Joan Forsberg have conducted over 20 years of research in order to write their new book The Wreck of the Griffon, the explorer La Salles ship that disappeared in 1679 on its return voyage from Lake Michigan. A big Beckham birthday! But Dykstra and Monroe said they'll wait until they hear the final word. Mr Libert said the evidence suggests that the ship was lost in a storm, A photo from the 2018 dive shows the bowsprit of the ship believed to be The Griffin. Thedetails of their findwere recorded in a 2021 book that chronicled their finding of the mysterious wreck. It was built with the intention of finding a route across the Great Lakes of North America to reach China and Japan. Cruise-goers reveal their most terrifying incidents at sea - from watching a ferocious Do YOU know your Adam and Eve from your Ruby Murray? More than 100 Native American bark canoes gathered around Le Griffon to look at the "big wood canoe". However, the ferocity of the gale forced them to retreat windward and lie-to until morning. Spartan Newsroom The Griffin (Le Griffon) was a sailing ship built byRen-Robert Cavelier in 1679 that mysteriously disappeared during its maiden voyage on the Great Lakes. Lawrence. Like Le Griffon, the steamship Marquette and Bessemer No. It would be busted up, she said. Quick Facts about Griffins. Alex Murdaugh Trial Ends with Guilty Verdict, Life in Prison Sentence; Ex-Lawyer's Court Exit Caught on Video, Russia-Ukraine War: Russian Diplomat Claims Ukraine War Was Launched Against Us, Sparks Laughter from Crowd, G20 India Leadership Says PM Modi's Stance on Ukraine Is Valid Despite Dissent, Cindy McCain Appointed as New Head of UN World Food Program, Promises To Address Global Humanitarian Needs, PLA Air Force J-11 Fighter Intercepts US Patrol Aircraft in the South China Monitoring Chinese Military, Japan Facing Major Population Headache as Birth Rate Plummets Again.

Shadow And Bone Audiobook Spotify, Can A Pitbull Kill A Raccoon, Is Martha Chaffee Still Alive, Harvest Right Replacement Parts, Articles T