On the night of October 13, 1872, the steamer Lac La Belle left Milwaukee for Grand Haven, Michigan, carrying 53 passengers and crew along with a cargo of barley, pork, flour and whiskey. About two hours into the voyage, the ship began taking on water uncontrollably, and the captain turned back toward Milwaukee, only for huge waves to extinguish the boiler fires and the storm to drive the vessel south. Around 5 a.m., the captain ordered the lifeboats lowered, and the Lac La Belle went down stern-first, with one lifeboat capsizing and killing eight people. More than 150 years later, according to reporting by The Associated Press, shipwreck hunter Paul Ehorn finally located the wreck sitting roughly 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, completing a search that began in 1965. The discovery also gives researchers a rare opportunity to document a well-preserved nineteenth-century vessel before invasive mussels cause further damage. This remarkable discovery underscores the urgent need to document Great Lakes maritime history before invasive species and time erode these irreplaceable underwater time capsules forever.
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