Treasure hunters have been chasing the FJ King for decades like it was some kind of nautical Bigfoot.
The ship has been laughing at them from the bottom of Lake Michigan since 1886.
And this ghost ship that vanished 139 years ago finally gave up its secrets when a bunch of amateur sleuths cracked the case in two hours flat.
Picture this: You’re Captain William Griffin, and your 144-foot wooden schooner is getting pounded by a Lake Michigan gale in the middle of the night.
Water’s pouring in faster than you can pump it out.
Your cargo of iron ore is shifting around like bowling balls in a pickup truck bed.
Griffin did what any smart captain would do – he told his crew to get the hell off that sinking ship.
They all piled into a small rescue boat and watched their vessel disappear into the dark water, taking its cargo straight to the bottom.
The men lived to sail another day.
The F.J. King? Not so much.
Every treasure hunter’s white whale
Fast-forward to the 1970s, and shipwreck hunters were obsessed with finding this thing.
"The schooner has been missing for 139 years and has been one of the most highly sought after shipwrecks on Lake Michigan," maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen explained to reporters.¹
Think about that for a second – 139 years of playing hide and seek with some of the most dedicated treasure hunters on the Great Lakes.
These weren’t casual weekend warriors with cheap metal detectors.
These were serious shipwreck specialists with sonar equipment that could spot a beer can on the lake floor.
But somehow, the F.J. King kept giving them the slip.
Search teams would sweep the area where Captain Griffin said his ship went down, using grid patterns that would make a chess master jealous.
They’d find other wrecks, sure – Lake Michigan is basically a underwater graveyard for 19th-century shipping.
But no F.J. King.
The ship had earned itself a reputation as the ultimate ghost story, the one that got away from everybody who tried to find it.
Citizen scientists succeed where the pros failed
Enter Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association.
Instead of sending out another team of professional wreck hunters, Baillod tried something different.
He rounded up 20 citizen scientists – community historians and amateur researchers from across the Midwest who wanted to experience what it’s like to hunt for a lost ship.
Most of these folks had never searched for a shipwreck in their lives.
"We chartered a local tour vessel for the search in order to bring a large group of community historians and scientists out on the lake to experience what it’s like to search for a lost ship," Baillod told reporters.²
They brought along some fancy new sonar equipment called DeepVision sidescan that could see through murky water better than older technology.
On June 28, this motley crew of history buffs headed out onto Lake Michigan.
Nobody was expecting miracles.
"Most had very low expectations, given the ship’s reputation," Baillod said.³
The F.J. King had frustrated professional treasure hunters for decades – what were the odds that a bunch of weekend warriors would stumble across it?
Two hours to solve a 139-year mystery
Apparently, pretty good odds.
Within two hours of dropping their sonar equipment into the water, Baillod’s team got a hit.
The unmistakable shape of a three-masted schooner appeared on their screens like a ghost materializing in a haunted house.
After nearly 140 years of hiding, the F.J. King had finally been caught.
Baillod says his team "couldn’t believe" they found the elusive F.J. King "so quickly."⁴
The volunteer researchers deployed Remote Operated Vehicles to get a closer look, and what they saw blew their minds.
As Baillod noted, they "were the first people to lay eyes on the ship since 1886."⁵
The Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association announced their discovery on September 14 – perfectly timed for the day before the 139th anniversary of the ship’s sinking.
https://twitter.com/LucInsights360/status/1967904546979713509
A time machine sitting on the lake floor
Here’s where this discovery gets really interesting.
Most shipwrecks that have been underwater for 139 years look like they’ve been through a blender.
Salt water eats through wood and metal like acid through paper.
Marine life turns old ships into underwater condominiums.
But the F.J. King? It’s sitting down there looking almost exactly like it did the night Captain Griffin abandoned it.
"The King is also exceptionally well-preserved due to the cold fresh water of the Great Lakes," Baillod explained.⁶
"She is essentially a nautical time capsule, still containing all the articles she was lost with in 1886."
The ship’s wheel is still in place.
The deck and rigging are intact.
Even the cargo is probably still down there, exactly where it shifted during that final storm.
For historians studying 19th-century Great Lakes shipping, this is like finding King Tut’s tomb underwater.
The F.J. King hauled cargo across the Great Lakes for 19 years before that fateful night in 1886, right during the peak of America’s industrial expansion.
Her career, as Baillod put it, "spans an important period of American growth and industrialization and is emblematic of the role the Great Lakes played in this period of our history."⁷
From ghost story to national treasure
The discovery team is now working to get the F.J. King listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After spending 139 years as the ultimate ghost ship, she’s about to become an official piece of American maritime history.
It’s a perfect ending to one of the Great Lakes’ greatest mysteries.
Professional treasure hunters spent decades searching for this ship with the latest technology and unlimited resources.
They all came up empty.
Then a bunch of amateur history buffs show up with some new sonar equipment and crack the case in two hours.
Sometimes the best way to solve an old mystery is to bring fresh eyes to the problem.
The F.J. King’s game of hide and seek is finally over.
But her story? That’s just getting started.
¹ Tamara Thomsen, quoted by Brian Anthony Hernandez, "Wreckage of ‘Ghost Ship’ F.J. King, Which Sank 139 Years Ago, Is Finally Found: ‘A Nautical Time Capsule’," PEOPLE, September 21, 2025.
² Brendon Baillod, quoted by Brian Anthony Hernandez, "Wreckage of ‘Ghost Ship’ F.J. King, Which Sank 139 Years Ago, Is Finally Found: ‘A Nautical Time Capsile’," PEOPLE, September 21, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
