MILWAUKEE — One of the most popular and luxurious passenger steamers of its day has been found in Lake Michigan's deep waters, searchers announced last week, more than 150 years after it sank stern-first about 20 miles off Racine, Wisconsin.
Lac La Belle, originally registered in Cleveland but later moved to Milwaukee for its home port, carried 53 passengers and crew when it encountered a fierce storm in mid-October 1872. Eight people died.
The ship was discovered by Paul Ehorn, an Elgin, Illinois, shipwreck hunter who has found several wrecks, most notably the SS Senator, which he located in 2005. The steel-hulled freighter sank off Port Washington, taking nine lives and 268 Nash automobiles on Halloween 1929.
The discovery was announced in a release by Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeological Association, on ShipwreckWorld.com.
Ehorn said Lac La Belle captured his interest because of his love of old wooden steamers. He and his partner, maritime historian and shipwreck hunter Bruce Bittner, were able to narrow down the location and then use sonar to find the ship. The two then recruited two divers to go down and film it.
