Explorer Won't Budge on Shipwreck Mystery

July 26, 2008 — -- The gray waters of Upper Lake Michigan are deep, cold and treacherous. And lately, they've been contentious.

A three-way court battle is brewing among an explorer who says he's found a 329-year-old shipwreck, the state of Michigan and the U.S. government. Just as precarious as the weather that supposedly sank the Griffon in 1679, the legal battle seems to portend a perfect storm.

"This whole area has a lot of wrecks," said Capt. Carl Carlson. "That's why they call it death's door. There's been lives taken in the water everywhere."

The Griffon shipwreck is a legend where Wisconsin meets Michigan. It's a 300-year-old mystery that Carlson and his diving partner, Steve Libert, are determined to solve.

Libert may be a secret agent by day-- he works as a senior defense analyst for the U.S. Navy -- but by night he's a passionate hunter for the old and precious.

His day job actually helps him in his hunt for historic ships, because much of this mission is stealthy and highly competitive.

"I don't think anyone from the state or any interlopers will find this location," said Libert.

Libert has enlisted shore-bound allies like Pat Ranguette, who watches with binoculars for other treasure hunters. If anything unfamiliar appears on the horizon, he rings the alarm.

"I'd get ahold of Steve, because that's part of his life he's been fighting for," said Ranguette.

Buried underwater somewhere is what's believed to be the scattered remains of the first European ship to ply the Upper Great Lakes, a French vessel built above Niagara Falls and sent west to Lake Michigan. It sank in September 1679, when young America was populated only by Native Americans and just 150,000 settlers. The ship was on its way home filled with 6,000 pounds of fur and other trade items when it caught the tail end of a wicked storm.

"All the waves come from like three different directions, and supposedly that was the demise of the Griffon," said Libert.