Michigan sleuth, 70, insists he has discovered ‘holy grail’ shipwreck from 1679…and claims petty officials won’t let him excavate it

A Michigan shipwreck hunter claims he’s uncovered the remains of a haunted ship that disappeared in 1679 – but says bureaucrat officials are standing in the way of his sunken treasure. 

Steve Libert, 70, believes that he has discovered the wreck of Le Griffin, the first full-size European ship to sail in the Upper Great Lakes.

For the past 43 years, the retired naval intelligence officer has been searching for the fabled vessel, but his recent claim to have found it is being dismissed by skeptical archaeologists and historians.

He recently swam by a heavy beam with moss-covered projecting ribs. He thinks that the structure bears certain attributes that fit the missing ship, including wrought iron fasteners and wooden pegs.

‘The Griffin has not been found,’ Wayne R. Lusardi, the maritime archaeologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources bluntly told the Wall Street Journal.

He went on to characterize the 70-year-old’s discovery as ‘fantasy.’

But Libert said the proof is right in front of them.

‘They don’t look at evidence,’ he argued. ‘They think I’m this shady character.’

Valerie van Hees, the director of Michigan Shipwreck Association, was similarly unconvinced.

‘From the ’30s to the present day, there have been multiple “discoveries” of the Griffon,’ van Hees said skeptically.

The fabled ship was once called the ‘Holy Grail’ for shipwreck hunters probing the depths of America’s Great Lakes. 

Steve Libert, 70, believes that he has discovered the wreck of Le Griffin, the first full-size European ship to sail in the Upper Great Lakes

The ship was once called the ‘holy grail’ for shipwreck hunters probing the depths of America’s Great Lakes

It was built by the French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, with a view to finding a route through the lakes to China and Japan. 

But the ship vanished while delivering a valuable cargo of furs, amid rumors that she had been cursed by a prophet from the Iroquois tribe.

‘It’s the first real shipwreck on the Great Lakes, and it’s a great mystery,’ Bruce Lynn, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, told the Wall Street Journal.

In 2001, after losing a protracted legal battle with the state of Michigan over another wrecked ship, Libert was diving in murky waters in pursuit of Le Griffon when he slammed into something that knocked his mask off.

He soon became convinced that he had inadvertently discovered a part of a ship, and imaging that revealed big mass on the lake bed seemed to corroborate his theory.

Libert was still able to recover a pole, which French archaeologists believe displays several features of a bowsprit- the long pole that juts out from the front of a ship

Libert petitioned the state for a permit to excavate and they denied him again, stymying his plans

Libert petitioned the state for a permit to excavate and they denied him again, stymying his plans.

This time, though, he called on the nation of France to claim the wreck as its own legal possession- a gambit that worked, temporarily.

By 2013, Libert had won his legal battle, and there was an expedition launched to explore the findings. But the site turned out to be misleading. It wasn’t the Le Griffon. It was a 4-foot heap of zebra mussels.

Despite this embarrassing setback, Libert was still able to recover a pole, which French archaeologists believe displays several features of a bowsprit- the long pole that juts out from the front of a ship.

‘What I suspected was a ship was confirmed by me during a dive in September 2018,’ he said

Carbon dating analysis placed the object anywhere between 1670 and 1950, but the Michigan History Center dismissed the find as a commercial fishing stake, used sometime between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s.

Libert rejected this conclusion, countering that a stake would feature a pointed end, not a beveled one like the object in question possessed.

In 2014, Libert was perusing satellite images and saw a massive trident shape in the waters of Lake Michigan, which he speculated could be part of a ship. Four years later, he checked out the location and determined that it was the Griffon.

‘What I suspected was a ship was confirmed by me during a dive in September 2018,’ he said.

But the state of Michigan quickly intervened and put the kibosh on any plans to excavate. 

In 2014, Libert was perusing satellite images and saw a massive trident shape in the waters of Lake Michigan, which he speculated could be part of a ship

‘The state feels we are encroaching upon their sovereignty and feels we are nothing more than treasure hunters intruding on the rights of academia and archeologists.’ 

At the age of 14, he first became interested in the missing ship when his 8th grade teacher told the class about it. According to the Libert, his teacher touched his shoulder and said: ‘Maybe someday someone in this class will find it.’

Now he wants to permission to excavate a group of rocks that he believes could be ballast stones concealing the Griffon’s cannons. But he told the Wall Street Journal that the back-and-forth with the state over the years has left him tired.

‘I’m 70 years old and not in the greatest health,’ Libert observed. ‘I don’t want to have to wait another 10 years to get another permit- even if I could get one.’