140-year-old schooner 'F.J. King' located off Wisconsin coast after decades-long search
Researchers using side-scan sonar found the intact hull of the cargo schooner that sank in a Lake Michigan storm in 1886
A team led by researcher Brandon Baillod announced the discovery of the wreck of the three-masted cargo schooner F.J. King on June 28, more than 140 years after the vessel sank in Lake Michigan. The find, confirmed by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, ended a multidecade search for a ship long considered a “ghost ship.”
The schooner was located off Bailey’s Harbor on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula during a targeted search of a roughly two-square-mile area. Side-scan sonar returned an image of a large, 140-foot object half a mile from where a lighthouse keeper had reported seeing the vessel during the storm, prompting divers and researchers to investigate further.
The F.J. King was built in Toledo, Ohio, in 1867 and measured about 144 feet. On Sept. 15, 1886, it was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago when a violent gale struck. Contemporary accounts say waves as high as 10 feet forced open the ship’s seams. Despite efforts by Captain William Griffin and his crew to pump out water, the schooner sank around 2 a.m. during the storm. Griffin’s stern deckhouse was reported torn away and his papers blown into the air; the crew later was rescued by another passing schooner and taken ashore at Bailey’s Harbor.
Conflicting reports about the wreck’s location and repeated unsuccessful searches since the 1970s had given the vessel its “ghost ship” reputation. Baillod said he suspected the original location reports might have been affected by disorientation during the storm and used a lighthouse keeper’s account to narrow the search area. "A few of us had to pinch each other," Baillod said in the organization’s announcement after the sonar contact produced a clear target.
Divers and underwater imagery indicate the hull of the F.J. King appears to be largely intact, a finding that surprised researchers who expected the structure to be broken up by the weight of the iron ore it had been carrying. The site’s condition will be assessed further by marine archaeologists to document the wreck and evaluate preservation needs.
The Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association has located five shipwrecks in the past three years, including the steamer L.W. Crane in the Fox River at Oshkosh and the tugboat John Evenson and schooner Margaret A. Muir off Algoma, Wisconsin, earlier in 2025. Baillod also led the 2023 discovery of the schooner Trinidad off Algoma.
The F.J. King discovery adds to the catalog of nineteenth-century commercial vessels preserved in the cold, fresh waters of the Great Lakes, which can slow the decay of wooden hulls and retain construction details valuable to maritime historians. Officials from the Wisconsin Historical Society said the site will be documented in accordance with state and federal guidelines for underwater cultural resources; further study is expected to clarify the wreck’s condition and the potential for public reporting or protective measures.
The find provides new material for researchers studying shipping, cargo patterns and weather-related losses on the Great Lakes during the late 19th century. It also resolves a long-standing local and maritime mystery about the final resting place of the F.J. King and preserves a record of the storm that claimed the vessel and nearly its crew.