what is the holy grail of great lakes shipwrecks
Le Griffon In late December 2014, treasure hunting divers Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe alerted media outlets that they found indisputable proof of Le Griffon's location. They happened upon the wreckage while searching the floor of Lake Michigan for Confederate gold. Evidently, they spotted the wreck in 2011, but waited until 2014 to reveal the discovery of what some call the "holy grail" of Great Lakes shipwrecks while they consulted experts. There are "no cables, no cabin, and no smokestacks," no mechanical devices of any kind, and a carving on the front of the ship strongly resembles 17th-century French carvings of griffins, Dykstra says. On January 2, 2015, Frederick Monroe told an interviewer for public radio that he believed Le Griffon was built in Canada, below Niagara Falls, and brought to the upper Great Lakes. He went on to say that the wreck is "the one that got in the way." Their claim was quickly debunked when Michigan authorities dove down on June 9, 2015 after receiving the coordinates to verify its authenticity. Michigan state maritime archaeologist Wayne R. Lusardi presented evidence that the wreck was, in fact, a tugboat due to its 90-foot (27Â m) length and presence of a steam boiler.[3]
Lake Erie Lake Erie was carved out by glacier ice,[1] and in its current form is less than 4,000 years old, which is a short span in geological terms. Before this, the land on which the lake now sits went through several complex stages. A large lowland basin formed over two million years ago as a result of an eastern flowing river that existed well before the Pleistocene ice ages. This ancient drainage system was destroyed by the first major glacier in the area, while it deepened and enlarged the lowland areas, allowing water to settle and form a lake. The glaciers were able to carve away more land on the eastern side of the lowland because the bedrock is made of shale which is softer than the carbonate rocks of dolomite and limestone on the western side. Thus, the eastern and central basins of the modern lake are much deeper than the western basin, which averages only 25 feet (7.6Â m) deep and is rich in nutrients and fish.[34] Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes because the ice was relatively thin and lacked erosion power when it reached that far south, according to one view.