The F.J. King's wheel sits on the bottom of Lake Michigan just off the ship's stern. Tamara Thomsen/Wisconsin Historical Society

A “ghost ship” that sank in Lake Michigan nearly 140 years ago and eluded several search efforts over the past five decades has been found, according to researchers with the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association.

The wooden schooner got caught in a storm in the dead of night and went down in September 1886. In the weeks after, a lighthouse keeper reported the ship’s masts breaking the ocean surface, and fishermen caught pieces of the vessel in their nets. Still, wreck hunters were unable to track down the ship’s location — until now.

Earlier this year, a team of researchers with the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association and Wisconsin Historical

See Full Page