Lake Michigan shipwreck; steamer found offshore between Racine, Kenosha

RACINE, Wis. - A luxury steamer that sank offshore between Racine and Kenosha in the late 1800s has been found. A maritime researcher that spoke with FOX6 News said he never thought this day would come.

In 1872, the Lac La Belle was docked on Milwaukee's riverfront. But for more than 150 years, its final resting place was a mystery.  

Finding the Lac La Belle

What they're saying:

"It was supposed to be somewhere between Kenosha and Port Washington. And I mean, that's a 60-mile chunk of lake, you know, you're not going to find it in that," said Paul Ehorn, who discovered the Lac La Belle. 

"To find her was really quite an accomplishment. She was in a big grid. Nobody really kind of knew where she was. I've got to give it to Paul. 
I didn't think that shipwreck would be found, ever," said Brendon Baillod, Great Lakes maritime historian. 

"I was excited. But, I think that was the 15th ship I found," Ehorn said. "It's okay, good. we got another one to scratch off the list and it was great. I'm not downplaying it. It was a great ship to find."

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Ehorn first heard of Lac La Belle when he started searching for shipwrecks 60 years ago. Now, at age 80, he found it about 20 miles offshore, between Racine and Kenosha. 

"The wood's beautiful on it. I'm a woodworker and I just appreciate what it took to put something that size together," Ehorn told FOX6 News. 

October 1827

The backstory:

The Lac La Belle took passengers and goods east to Grand Haven, Michigan on a six-hour trip. But two hours into its final, stormy trip, the Lac La Belle started leaking. 

The captain tried returning to Milwaukee, but it never made it back. Fifty-three people aboard jumped into life boats. Eight people died, 45 survived. 

"It played such a big part in, you know, commerce on the Great Lakes carrying copper ingots down from Lake Superior, carrying passengers all over the Great Lakes, and one that was kind of groundbreaking. She was one of the first to have two propellers and two smokestacks, two full engines propelling her, and so she was one the fastest," Baillod said. "Her loss was really a devastating blow because she was on of the main ways that people got across Lake Michigan back in 1872."

Hundreds of ships missing in Lake Michigan

Dig deeper:

Baillod said many ships have been found in Lake Michigan, but roughly 220 are still missing. 

"So, really, Lake Michigan has just an underwater graveyard," Baillod said. "The Lac La Belle in particular is an interesting story to tell. And finding its remains gives us really an unprecedented chance to give people a look back in time to tell that story."

That includes the Lac La Belle, which actually had sunk once before. It was pulled from the bottom of the St. Clair River in 1869. 

"In 1866, that was pretty hard. You know, you'd have to put divers in there, even in 30 feet water, you know, because they had to literally cofferdam it and pump it out. it took them three years before they got all the forces arrayed and got it raised," Baillod said. "A lot of these ships had nine lives."

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But this time, it's likely the Lac La Belle will stay put. 

"No, the cost would be, you know, in the millions to, you'd need a couple barges," Ehorn said.