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The mystery of a "ghost ship" that vanished over a century ago in Lake Michigan has at last been unravelled. Researchers have authenticated the identification of the F.J. King, a three-masted cargo schooner that sank during a violent storm on September 15, 1886. The wreck was located by maritime historian Brandon Baillod on June 28, 2025, and its identification was announced this week by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, according to the NY Post.

The FJ King: A 19th-Century Schooner

Built in 1867 in Toledo, Ohio, the F.J. King was 144 feet long and was meant to transport heavy loads over the Great Lakes. During its last trip, the schooner was carrying iron ore from Escanaba, Michigan, to Chicago when it was hit by a violent gale off the Wisconsin coast. Waves that were 8 to 10 feet high broke through the ship's seams, and even though the crew fought hard to pump out water, the vessel started taking in too much. At about 2 am (local time), the schooner went down bow-first.

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Captain William Griffin and his crew were lucky to survive, being rescued by an oncoming schooner and taken in safely to Bailey's Harbor. Nevertheless, the ship's location was still unknown for decades, and it had then gained the nickname of a "ghost ship."

Decades Of Failed Searches

Searches for the F.J. King started in the 1970s but were consistently unsuccessful. Differing reports of its last moments made it hard to search. Captain Griffin said the ship sank approximately five miles off Bailey's Harbor, while a local lighthouse keeper said he could see the masts of the ship breaching the surface of the water closer to shore. Consistent yearly searches produced nothing, giving the ship an even greater mythic status.

From what historians describe, the hurricane ripped off the sdeckhouse and sent the captain's papers flying in the air, and the crew fought for hours with mounting water levels before they abandoned ship.

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Baillod, who thought Griffin could have been confused by the storm, centered his search within a two-square-mile radius of the lighthouse keeper's sighting. With side-scan radar technology, his group detected a 140-foot object within a half-mile of that spot. Further investigation revealed the object to be the long-lost F.J. King, solving a 140-year-old nautical enigma.