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2w ago

Long-Lost Schooner F.J. King Found Off Wisconsin After 139 Years

Citizen researchers used side-scan sonar with ROV confirmation to locate the intact wreck, now documented for nomination to historic protection.

The wreckage of the F.J. King rests on the bottom of Lake Michigan in 2025, 139 years after that cargo ship sank. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society
Image
The Cana Island Lighthouse keeper gave one of the biggest clues to where the ship sank 139 years ago. They reported seeing the masts of the King protruding from the water after it sank. The lighthouse, pictured on June 29, 2025, is located in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin.
Citizen scientists with Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association (WUAA) discover the wreck of the schooner F.J. King off the coast of Door County, 2025. (Image courtesy of WUAA)

Overview

  • Officials said the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association and the Wisconsin Historical Society announced the find, which a team led by Brendon Baillod made on June 28.
  • The wreck lies off Bailey’s Harbor on the Door Peninsula, where a search grid based on a lighthouse keeper’s 1886 sighting guided side-scan sonar to a 140-foot target that ROVs verified.
  • The F.J. King was a 144-foot, three-masted schooner that sank during a Sept. 15–16, 1886 gale while hauling iron ore; Captain William Griffin and his crew were rescued by a passing vessel.
  • Investigators report the hull appears remarkably intact despite its ore cargo, though images show heavy colonization by invasive quagga mussels.
  • The site has been documented by the Wisconsin Historical Society with a 3D photogrammetry model, and the precise coordinates will be withheld pending nomination to state and national historic registers.