Historic Lake Michigan steamer located after generations-long search
After nearly six decades of searching, shipwreck hunter and scuba diver Paul Ehorn has located the long-lost passenger steamer Lac La Belle, one of the Great Lakes’ most sought-after missing ships.
The discovery was made in October 2022, roughly 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The find was formally shared by Shipwreck World, the global exploration group led by Ehorn. The official announcement was delayed to give the team more time to create a three-dimensional video model of the wreck. Poor weather and scheduling constraints postponed followup dives until last summer.
Now 80 years old, Ehorn has been searching for shipwrecks since the age of 15. He began pursuing the Lac La Belle in 1965, drawn by the mystery surrounding its final resting place.
Sidescan sonar
The breakthrough came in 2022, when fellow wreck-hunter and maritime historian Ross Richardson uncovered a historical clue that significantly narrowed the search grid. For decades, uncertainty about the ship’s sinking location had left explorers with a vast and imprecise area to scan.
Armed with Richardson’s information, Ehorn and his partner Bruce Bittner set out with Ehorn’s Klein sidescan sonar, prepared for an extended operation. The result came faster than expected.
About two hours into the search, on only their second pass, a large object appeared on the sonar display. A higher-resolution scan revealed distinctive structural features. “It was a moment of real jubilation,” exclaimed Ehorn. “We knew we had done it.”
Location withheld pending documentation
The Lac La Belle was a luxury passenger steamer that departed Milwaukee for Grand Haven, Michigan, on an October night in 1872. On board were 53 passengers and crew, along with a substantial cargo that included 19,000 bushels of barley, 1,200 barrels of flour, 50 barrels of pork and 25 barrels of whiskey, according to Shipwreck World.
The vessel sank in Lake Michigan and, despite repeated search efforts over the decades, its location remained unknown for generations. After it had been found, Ehorn wanted to undertake a comprehensive digital documentation campaign before disclosing the wreck’s exact position. Central to that effort has been the development of a detailed 3D photogrammetry model designed to capture the vessel’s structure, condition and spatial layout, creating a permanent visual record of the site.
Ehorn reports that while the wreck’s exterior is covered with invasive quagga mussels and the upper cabins are gone, the hull appears intact and the oak interiors remain in good condition.
Renewed urgency in Great Lakes exploration
The Great Lakes are believed to contain between 6,000 and 10,000 shipwrecks, most of which remain undiscovered, according to the University of Wisconsin Madison’s Wisconsin Water Library. In recent years, concern over the impact of invasive quagga mussels, which can gradually degrade submerged wooden structures, has added urgency to discovery and documentation efforts.
Ehorn is scheduled to present the Lac La Belle discovery at the 2026 Ghost Ships Festival in Wisconsin in March, where he will share video footage and additional imagery of the wreck.
For maritime historians and underwater exploration specialists, the find closes one of the region’s longest-running searches, and underscores both the persistence of independent explorers and the role of modern sonar technology in uncovering the Great Lakes’ hidden past.
