Barry Artiste Op/Ed
Maritime Law titled “Finders Keepers” is in effect, regardless what France states in their quest to recover a 400 year old ship which sank in US waters in the 17th century.
It is an amazing find after all these years, especially in the Great Lakes, many do not know that the Great Lakes can preserve sunken wooden ships almost to pristine condition as oxygen, cold, and lack of wood eating worms make it an ideal place to recover and document shipwrecks.
Certainly I and many look forward to a Documentary, in the National Geographic if it is ever made.
The Griffon, built in 1679 near today’s Niagara Falls, Ont., by French explorer Rene-Robert de La Salle, became the first sailing ship on the Great Lakes but was lost in a storm that year on its maiden voyage. Photograph by: Handout,
Canwest News Service
France claims historic Great Lakes wreck
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 17, 2009
The French government has formally moved to lay claim to one of Canadian history’s most important shipwrecks — if, as a U.S. relic hunter believes, the 330-year-old Griffon has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
The Griffon, built in 1679 near today’s Niagara Falls, Ont., by French explorer Rene-Robert de La Salle, became the first sailing ship on the Great Lakes but was lost in a storm that year on its maiden voyage.
In 2004, U.S. wreck diver Steve Libert discovered remnants of what he suspects is a 17th-century shipwreck at the north end of Green Bay, near the boundary waters of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Source: theprovince.com
Tags: Canada | France | Michigan | World | LAKE MICHIGAN | shipwrecks | US Politics | undefined | Canadian Politics | great lakes region