After nearly a century and a half beneath Lake Michigan, the schooner F.J. King (1867) has been rediscovered off Door County.

Launched at Toledo in 1867, the King was a stout, three-masted schooner built for the timber and ore trades. On September 15, 1886, she sprang a leak in a fierce gale while carrying 600 tons of iron ore from Escanaba to Chicago. Despite desperate efforts to reach shelter at North Bay, the crew was forced to abandon ship to the schooner La Petite. The F.J. King slipped beneath the waves off Cana Island — lost, but not forgotten.

Today, after 139 years, her story continues. In 2025, diver and maritime modeler Zach Whitrock completed a survey dive of the wreck, producing a detailed 3D photogrammetry model that reveals the schooner’s remarkably preserved hull lying in 150 feet of water.

This discovery, supported by the Wisconsin Historical Society, marks a milestone for Great Lakes archaeology, opening new opportunities to study 19th-century ship construction and ore trade history.

Congratulations to Zach Whitrock and the entire survey team for bringing the F.J. King back into the light of history!
Full write up here and a the great model here.