• It sank in lake Michigan in the 19th century
• A research team used sonar to pinpoint its location after 60 years of search

A 19th-century shipwreck in Lake Michigan has finally been located. After nearly sixty years of searching, a specialized research team announced the discovery of the wreck of the steamer Lac La Belle, which sank during a violent storm in Lake Michigan in the late 1800s.

The research team, experts in locating shipwrecks worldwide, said that Illinois-based wreck hunter Paul Eihorn led the team that found the vessel about 32 kilometers off the coast between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, in October 2022.

Eihorn explained in a phone interview that the announcement was delayed because the team wanted to attach a 3D model of the ship. However, bad weather and other commitments prevented them from reaching the wreck until last summer.

He added that he began searching for the wreck at the age of fifteen and had been trying to pinpoint the location of Lac La Belle since 1965.

In 2022, using a guide by author Russ Richardson to narrow the search area, the team located the ship within just two hours using a side-scan sonar device on the lake.

Eihorn described the find as “like solving a puzzle. Sometimes you don’t have all the pieces, but this time we succeeded and found it immediately,” expressing his great excitement over the discovery.

He did not reveal the specific clue that led to the wreck, while Richardson noted that a commercial fisherman had caught something related to 19th-century steamships at a particular location, without providing further details.

According to the research team, Lac La Belle was built in 1864 in Cleveland, Ohio, and operated on the Cleveland–Lake Superior route before sinking in the St. Clair River in 1866 after a collision. The ship was later raised and refurbished in 1869.

The vessel ultimately sank on the night of October 13, 1872, during a severe storm while en route from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan. Onboard were 53 passengers and crew, along with its cargo of food.

Two hours after setting sail, water began flooding the ship. The captain attempted to return to Milwaukee, but towering waves extinguished the boilers, and the ship drifted south. The captain ordered the lifeboats lowered before the vessel sank.

One lifeboat capsized on its way to shore, resulting in eight deaths, while the remaining boats reached the Wisconsin shoreline safely between Racine and Kenosha.

Eihorn said that the exterior wreck is covered in quagga mussels, and the upper cabins are missing. However, the ship’s frame remains intact, and the oak interior compartments are still in good condition.

The Great Lakes contain between 6,000 and 10,000 shipwrecks, most of which remain undiscovered, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Great Lakes Library.

Lac La Belle marks the fifteenth wreck that Eihorn has located. He said, “This is another milestone discovery. Now we’ll move on to the next wreck—the easiest ones may already have been found.”