The Mysterious Shipwreck of Le Griffon | Expedition Unknown 17,600 views May 8, 2019 The Griffon, a ship built by famed explorer Ren-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, sailed out of Lake. MARIE, CHEBOYGAN AND ALL POINTS. New York, LaSalle had the ship built on a creek near the Niagara River to accomplish his mission of finding a passage to China. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. The figurehead likely isn't the remains of a griffin, he said, but a "big encrustation of zebra mussels," on burned wood. Ive seen dozens and dozens of 100- to 150-year-old ships, and that is not a 350-year-old ship. Having lost needed supplies, La Salle left the building of Le Griffon under Tonti's care, and set out on foot to return to Fort Frontenac. once I broke the surface. 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 . Now, more than 335 years later, the wreck of the Griffon has not definitively been found. Marie. 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. Majestic, strong, and imbued with magic, the griffin is a common heraldic symbol which joins the lion's valor with the eagle's elegance. [9][pageneeded] They wished to secure a reliable truce lest the natives interfere with their projects. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. ", La Salle sailed the Griffon through the Great Lakesand crossed into Lake Michigan in an effort to reach the mouth of the Mississippi River, Baillod said. Order from www.seawolfcommunications.com or call them at 630-293-8996. by Anonymous -
They are considered to be symbolic of power . A history teacher inspired Libert in school. 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. Or the Jesuits had something to do with the disappearance. 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. Ive seen dozens and dozens of 100- to 150-year-old ships, and that is not a 350-year-old ship. Heres how it works. Dykstra said he took photos of old cannons, a sword, and the griffin sculpture, evidence he says reveals the wreck and itsmissing secrets. (Wikipedia) The age could have proved if the plank came. Libert may be a secret agent by day-- he works as a senior defense analyst for the U.S. Navy -- but by night he's a passionate hunter for the old and precious. She also reports on general science, including archaeology and paleontology. They recovered the anchors, chain, and most of the materials critical for Le Griffon, but most of the supplies and provisions were lost. Griffin was the name of a 17th-century ship known to have sailed between England and English settlements in Massachusetts. While there have been many theories over the years, there is no clear consensus as to the fate or current location of Le Griffon. He also teaches public affairs reporting, international journalism, feature writing and media law and serves as director of the schools Capital News Service. They sailed from the Straits of Mackinac to an island (either Washington Island or Rock Island)[1] located at the entrance of Green Bay. All Rights Reserved. Alpena County reference. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Her adventure is set be featured on national television as part of an hour . The mythical griffin is a creature of ferocity and nobility. The other wreckage has been approximately dated to between 1632 and 1682. Below Niagara Falls: first ships on Lake Ontario. Le Griffon launched August 7, 1679 from Cayuga Island (Niagara Falls, NY). 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. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, Le Griffon and the Huron Islands 1649: Our Story of Exploration and Discovery. Navagio Beach in Greece is famous for its shipwreck. The Plaque reads: La Salle and Father Louis Hennepin set out on the Le Griffon's maiden voyage on August 7, 1679 with a crew of 32, sailing across Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan through uncharted waters that only canoes had previously explored. It's the only artifact so far to be brought back from the ship wreck. 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. Where to Find the Griffon Vulture. Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News. 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. La Salle oversaw the laying of Le Griffon's keel and drove her first bolt. They then set the ship on fire. POTUS Had Cancerous Lesion Removed From His Chest Last February! The ship was lost on the return leg of her maiden voyage due to a violent boiler A rare daggerboard schooner, Three Brothers, has been discovered in deep water off Oswego, New York by a team of shipwreck enthusiasts. French historical documents and shipbuilding techniques, colonial-era maps, contemporary reports, what he says is a bowsprit retrieved from the wreckage, carbon-4 dating and underwater photographs of submerged parts of a vessel. Maritime historians best guess, she says, is that it sank between Beaver Island and the southern coast of the Upper Peninsula, possibly within sight of shore between what are now Manistique and Naubinway. All of those people have been wrong including Libert she says. Unexpectedly, a nail attached itself to the magnet, and the treasure hunters only discovered it later, once they were above water. This ship was 471 tons. Enter the text you see in the image below. It wanted to sail across Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan through waters only canoes had previously explored. Suffering from cold and low on supplies, the men were close to mutiny. 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. While there La Salle selected a site for building Le Griffon. Libert became instantly fascinated by the Griffon mystery as a 14-year-old student in Dayton, Ohio, where he first heard from a teacher about the missing ship with its figurehead of a griffon, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. At the time, no other wreckage was found, but scientists noted other wreckage may not be far away.[16][17]. The 1633 journey left at Downs, England and landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts on September 3. . Le Griffon mysteriously went missing in 1679 and no one knows what happened between the time it was last seen until it was discovered three years ago, Libert said. Bateaux were also common. News and information from the Michigan State University School of Journalism. He continued exploring the Mississippi River until his murder in Texas in 1687. Most of the ship remnants were in shallow, not deep water makes the other claims inaccurate. The loss of the Griffon is one of the great mysteries of the Great Lakes. However, the ferocity of the gale forced them to retreat windward and lie-to until morning. Here's how to watch. 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. 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. Le Griffon. [4] When the Seneca again threatened to burn the ship, she was launched earlier than planned in Cayuga Creek channel of the upper Niagara River with ceremony and the roar of her cannons. The Griffin, or gryphon, is a mythological creature with the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion and the wings, front talons, and head of an eagle. Wood can break up. Tornadoes Hit Central US; Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus Ohio Brace For Intense Weather. ', 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. People remember the cautionary TV commercials from Do not sell or share my personal information. The straight-line distance is about 75 miles (121km). The Griffon shipwreck is a legend where Wisconsin meets Michigan. 2 - The Almiranta, Santo Cristo de San Roman, Nuestra Seora del Rosario y San Jose (Presumably a galleon). The 2001 discovery of a bowsprit sticking out the lakebed sparked a 10-year legal battle with the State of Michigan, preventing the explorers from excavating for the rest of the ship until 2013. 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. The Wilhelm Gustloff (1945): The deadliest shipwreck in history On January 30, 1945, some 9,000 people perished aboard this German ocean liner after it was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine and . The divers said they found Le Griffon in 2011, but are just announcing the discovery because they were consulting experts to confirm it. According to Mr and Mrs Libert, The Griffin is a good match for wreckage found in 2018 near Poverty Island, Lake Michigan. These social birds live in vulture colonies. Le Griffon rode out a violent storm for four days and then on 18 September, the pilot Luc and five crew sailed under a favorable wind for the Niagara River with a parting salute from a single gun. The Griffin was last seen struggling off Washington Island and was never heard from again. No cannons have been found near the site Libert identified. Its exact size and construction isn't known, but it was armed with seven cannons and at the time was the largest sailing vessel on the Great Lakes. But even now, the Liberts are prevented by the State of Michigan from conducting an in-depth excavation. Now, more than 335years later, the wreck of the Griffon has not definitively been found. This was a "great bark" (Hennepin's words) of about 20 tons burden[8] although Tonti's journal says this was a 40-ton vessel. REVEALED: Huge sonic boom felt by thousands across the country was caused by RAF Typhoon jets scrambling to Wakey Wakey! They were driven northwesterly until the evening of 27 August when under a light southerly breeze they finally rounded Bois Blanc Island and anchored in the calm waters of the natural harbor at East Moran Bay off the settlement of Mission St. Ignace, where there was a settlement of Hurons, Ottawas, and a few Frenchmen. That is my question. La Belle was the ship of French explorer La Salle, lost at Matagorda Bay in 1686. [4] They entered Lake St. Clair on 12 August, the feast day of Saint Clare of Assisi, and named the lake after her. Test yourself with this Cockney Rhyming Slang quiz. Then they also talk with real people the individual citizens and businesses in communities to get their reactions to whats happening in Lansing. Joe Porter, publisher for Wreck Diving Magazine, has penned articles on famous ship wrecks including the Titanic, but saidthe Griffon is the most fascinating. Until there is an expedition (to the site) with politically unaligned professionals, I will not weigh in one way or another, said Vrana, whose nonprofit group has consulted with Libert. It was a calm night and they believed the vessel was securely moored. Their inefficiency at beating to windward made them impractical as sailing vessels, and they were not very safe in open water. Some time later, Hennepin would use this little vessel to sail to Fort Frontenac and again back to Niagara. They made their way north and west to Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron where they were becalmed until noon of 25 August. They believe the carving is of a mythical creature known as a griffon, half lion and half eagle. (Image credit: Father Louis Hennepin Public Domain ). [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. Acknowledging that French archeologists side with Libert, she asks what they know about Native American fishing practices. "[5] He also says that at Fort Frontenac in 1676, La Salle "laid the keels of the vessels which he depended on to frighten the English. He then charged La Motte with salvage by use of canoes. [14] After years of legal squabbles the Michigan Department of Natural Resources issued a permit, and on 16 June 2013, an underwater pit was dug allowing US and French archeologists to examine the object for the first time. Father Hennepin wrote that during the fearful crisis of the storm, La Salle vowed that if God would deliver them, the first chapel erected in Louisiana would be dedicated to the memory of Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron of the sailor. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). [13] Originally discovered in 2001 near Poverty Island, Michigan sonar has shown an object approximately 40 by 18 feet (12.2 by 5.5m) (similar to the dimensions of Le Griffon) located under several feet of sediment. The Atlas may be the oldest confirmed commercial schooner discovered in the Great Lakes. 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.. Possibly a cannon, hopefully with the date stamped on it.'. Copyright 2023 HNGN. Le Griffon is considered by some to have been the first ship lost on the Great Lakes. 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. [15] On 19 June 2013, teams of scientists determined the wood pole discovered was not attached to a ship, after it came loose and was placed on the lake bed during an excavation. I was mesmerized by what he was saying. 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. Several French explores built the exploratory vessel Ren-Robert Cavalier and Sieur de La Salle. "It's very difficult to access a wreck based on photo and film footage," Anderson said. 1 Answer. As for the pieces of wreckage Libert photographed, they cant be the Griffons because they would have broken to bits long, long ago if theyd been in shallow water battered by storms and ice for more than three centuries, van Heest says. He says that the ship must have been caught in a four-day storm, where the ship part found farther away would have broken off due to a powerful storm. Maritime historians best guess, she says, is that it sank between Beaver Island and the southern coast of the Upper Peninsula, possibly within sight of shore between what are now Manistique and Naubinway. If it exists in the physical world, we think it will be there in deep water, she says. In the Great Lakes region, there may be no older and more intriguing historical mystery than the 1679 disappearance of the Griffon, one of French explorer Robert La Salle's ships. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [citation needed], After La Salle and Tonti left, the pilot and the rest of the crew were to follow with the supply vessel. Images of the severely dilapidated wreckage show it lying on the bed of Lake Michigan, This image shows the ship's keelson - the structure which fastens a ship's floor timbers to its keel. Updated. Libert said the book reveals the location of the Huron Islands where Robert La Salles ship, Le Griffon, met her fate. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts. A bowsprit is the spar that extends forward from the bow. Their sonar caught a mass below, and Dykstra dove into the water to take video. ', 'The Seneca were in awe of the French for having built such a large canoe. myth bird lion hippogriff griffin, also spelled griffon or gryphon, composite mythological creature with a lion's body (winged or wingless) and a bird's head, usually that of an eagle. Le Griffon, 17th-century sailing ship built by Robert de La Salle may have been found in Lake Michigan 335 years after it disappeared. La Salle decided to stay behind with four canoes to explore the head of Lake Michigan. She carried a cargo of furs valued at from 50,000 to 60,000 francs ($10,000 $12,000) and the rigging and anchors for another vessel that La Salle intended to build to find passage to the West Indies. 'We are confident the ship was wrecked due to a severe storm. On 23 June 2014, Steve Libert told the Associated Press he believed he found Le Griffon in Lake Michigan after extensive searching, in a debris field near where a wood slab was found the previous year. It's not clear what led to the ship's sinking more than 340 years ago. However, 36 years later in 1911, the Rosabelle was found again overturned and floating with no sign of any . La Salle offered Hennepin the honor of driving the first spike, but Hennepin deferred to his leader. "[5] J. C. Mills [4] quotes a letter from La Salle to the Minister of Marine that says, "The fort at Cataraqui (Fort Frontenac) with the aid of a vessel now building, will command Lake Ontario"[4] While no date is given for the letter, the location of Mill's reference to it suggests that it was sent before 1677, perhaps as early as 1675. Its fate has been a puzzlement for maritime historians for more than three and a half centuries. 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. It would no longer exist. "The [American] Indians told the captain not to sail out, to wait the storm out, but he wouldn't listen to them," Baillod said. 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.. She says American marine archaeologists concluded that what Libert claims is the bowsprit was beyond a doubt part of a Native American fishing trap. 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. Negotiations with the Senecas were only moderately successful, so when they left the village they still wondered if the natives would permit them to finish their project. 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I'm a vet, and here are five dog breeds most prone to cancer - including Golden Retrievers and Rottweilers, Prince Andrew chuckles as he encounters female jogger on way to his weekly Windsor horse-riding trip. Crude tools, green and wet timbers, and the cold winter months caused slow progress in the construction of Le Griffon. But the explorer ran out of money, so he disembarked with the other expedition leaders, leaving the ship and its crew to pay off his debts with furs. Lost after 350 years, the cursed ship, The Griffin, went on a voyage that became one of the most legendary disappearances solved in modern times. [4] She had the figure of a griffin mounted on her jib-boom and an eagle flying above. LANSING Historical mysteries may take decades, even centuries, to solve if ever. 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. "When we had it looked at, they [the archaeologists] could tell that the nail was very old," Dykstra said.
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