Experts in shipwrecks announced on Sunday that they’ve found the remnants of a steamship that sank in Lake Michigan over 150 years ago.
Paul Ehorn, 80, an Illinois-based shipwreck enthusiast, has wrapped up a six-decade pursuit. His team uncovered the sunken vessel, identified as the Lac La Belle, which vanished beneath Lake Michigan on October 13, 1872.
Ehorn’s quest began long ago—he dreamed of finding the ship when he was just 20 years old. The team made their first discovery of the wreck in October 2022, located about 32 miles off the coast between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The announcement was held until the team could produce a three-dimensional video model of the ship. They were able to finalize this after returning to the wreck site last summer.
While the ship’s exterior is now covered with quagga shells and the upper cabin is missing, Ehorn noted that the hull remains intact and the oak interior is in good shape.
Although Ehorn did not want to divulge all the details that led to the find, he did mention that a critical clue came in 2022 from a conversation with fellow shipwreck hunter Ross Richardson.
With this new information, Ehorn’s team arrived at the Wisconsin coastline and located the ship in just two hours of sonar searching. “It’s sort of like a game; it feels like solving a puzzle. You sometimes lack pieces, but we found this one quickly,” he shared.
Richardson had received information that a commercial fisherman discovered an item at a specific location, which experts deemed characteristic of a steamboat from the 1800s.
Similar to Ehorn, Richardson refrained from sharing too much about the discovery.
As reported, the Lac La Belle was a 217-foot luxury steamship built in 1864 in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially, it sailed between Cleveland and Lake Superior until an accident in the St. Clair River in 1866 caused it to sink.
After being salvaged three years later and repaired, it attempted a journey to Grand Haven, Michigan, during very rough weather.
About two hours into the trip, the vessel, which carried 53 passengers along with a load of barley, pork, flour, and whisky, began to take on water. The captain tried to make a return to Milwaukee, but a massive wave slammed into the ship, extinguishing the boiler.
By 5 a.m. the next day, the ship sank stern first. The captain ordered the lifeboats lowered, but one capsized on the way to shore, resulting in the loss of eight lives.
The Wisconsin Water Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates there are roughly 6,000 to 10,000 shipwrecks in the U.S. Great Lakes, with most of these still unlocated.
