140-year-old ‘ghost ship’ F.J. King found in Lake Michigan
Researchers uncover intact three-masted cargo schooner off Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula after decades of searches
A team led by researcher Brandon Baillod has located the wreck of the F.J. King, a three-masted cargo schooner that sank off Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula 140 years ago, the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association said Monday. The remains were identified after a June 28 side-scan sonar survey revealed a large, 140-foot-long object on the floor of Lake Michigan.
The F.J. King went down during a violent storm on Sept. 15, 1886, while en route from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago carrying a cargo of iron ore. Contemporary accounts describe a gale that produced waves up to 10 feet and ruptured the vessel’s seams. Captain William Griffin and his crew pumped to keep the ship afloat, but the schooner sank about 2 a.m.; the crew was later rescued by a passing schooner and brought to Bailey’s Harbor, a small community on the peninsula.
Searchers had failed for decades to locate the F.J. King despite numerous efforts beginning in the 1970s. Conflicting reports about the vessel’s final position contributed to the search difficulties and helped the wreck gain a reputation as a “ghost ship.” Baillod said he narrowed the search this year by focusing on a two-square-mile area informed by a historical report from a lighthouse keeper. The sonar signature led the team to the wreck about a half-mile from the keeper’s sighting.
“The hull appears to be intact, which surprised us,” Baillod said in an announcement. Searchers had expected the wreck to be broken up by the weight of the iron ore it was carrying when it sank. Side-scan imagery showed a largely intact hull lying on the lakebed.
Records show the F.J. King was built in Toledo, Ohio, in 1867 and measured 144 feet in length. Contemporary newspaper descriptions of the 1886 sinking said the storm tore away the vessel’s stern deckhouse and scattered Captain Griffin’s papers. No fatalities were reported in accounts of the rescue.
The Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, which collaborated on the search, said the discovery adds to a string of recent local maritime finds. The group reported five wreck discoveries in the past three years, including the steamer L.W. Crane in the Fox River at Oshkosh earlier in 2025 and, off Algoma, the tugboat John Evenson and the schooner Margaret A. Muir. Baillod also located the schooner Trinidad off Algoma in 2023.
Investigators said the newly located wreck will be documented and studied in accordance with state archaeological practices. Under Wisconsin law and federal guidelines, shipwrecks are treated as cultural resources; investigators typically record and image sites with remote sensing and remotely operated or diver-based surveys before any artifacts are disturbed.
The F.J. King discovery provides a well-preserved example of a late-19th-century Great Lakes cargo schooner and may shed further light on construction, cargo practices and storm-related losses in the region. Officials said they will release additional findings as analysis of the sonar data and any subsequent diver inspections are completed.