After nearly 60 years of searching, Illinois shipwreck hunter and scuba diver Paul Ehorn has located the wreck of the luxury passenger steamer Lac La Belle, which sank in Lake Michigan in October 1872, according to Shipwreck World.
The 217-foot vessel, built in Cleveland in 1864 and reconditioned after an earlier sinking, left Milwaukee for Grand Haven, Michigan, on October 13, 1872, with 53 people aboard. About two hours into the trip, Lac La Belle began leaking uncontrollably from an unknown cause, and then the steamer was caught in a severe storm. The ship sank about 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin; one lifeboat capsized on the way to shore, killing eight.
Using a critical historical clue and side-scan sonar, Ehorn found the wreck’s upright, intact hull after a two-hour search, nearly 150 years to the day of the sinking. Covered with invasive quagga mussels and missing its upper cabins, the wreck still retains much of its wooden framework. Divers later filmed the site, and Ehorn plans to share a detailed 3D model of the Lac La Belle.
Shipwreck photo paul ehorn; historic photo: Brendon Baillod
