Relic hunter wants Canada’s help in shipwreck case
May 01, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Randy Boswell | Source: Canwest News Service
An American relic hunter who believes he’s found one of Canada’s most important shipwrecks at the bottom of Lake Michigan is appealing for Canadian heritage officials to get involved in the U.S. legal battle over the site.
The Griffon, which was built near Niagara Falls in 1679 and became the first sailing ship on the Great Lakes, was lost in a storm on its maiden voyage and now ranks among North America’s most sought-after wrecks.
A federal U.S. appeals court ruled last week that the discoverer of the Griffon’s purported resting place - Steve Libert, an underwater explorer from Virginia - does not have to reveal the location to the State of Michigan until another judge sorts out the ownership and future management of the potential heritage treasure.
Robert Grenier, the Canadian government’s senior underwater archeologist, acknowledges that the Griffon is “one of the Holy Grails of Canadian marine history,” adding that the fact that the ship “was not built in Europe makes it more attractive” to scholars documenting Canada’s colonial era.
But Grenier cautions that “diagnostic” proof of the wreck’s identity has not yet been produced, and that the “quite complicated” legal struggle between Libert, Michigan authorities and U.S. federal heritage officials will have to be resolved before Canada or the French government - which could ultimately claim ownership of the Griffon - get involved.
Experts from the Field Museum in Chicago dated some wood samples from the site to the 17th century.
…But further dives at the site and a planned lake-bottom survey for debris were halted four years ago when the State of Michigan claimed exclusive authority over the wreck. That prompted the long-running court battle with Libert and last week’s ruling that a federal “admiralty arrest” should be imposed over the wreck site to continue protecting the submerged artifacts until the ownership dispute is settled.
Libert, who accused Michigan of “trying to legally steal” the Griffon, has stated in the past that the wreck lies between Escanaba, Mich., and the St. Martin Islands near Wisconsin.
Read the full story, more details to this complex story at CanWest News Service >>
