The Wreck of the FJ King is Finally Found in Lake Michigan
It’s one of the most ironic twists of fate: the sinking and discovery of the F.J. King schooner.
The ship sank in Lake Michigan on September 15, 1886 in Bailey’s Harbor, near Door County, Wisconsin. 139 years TO THE DAY - September 15, 2025 - the wreck was found after years of extensive searching.
The F.J. King had left Escanaba, Michigan with a load of iron ore to be delivered in Chicago. Once near the Door Peninsula, the ship encountered a storm. The crew spent hours battling to keep the ship afloat, but by 2am, the captain ordered everyone into the yawl boat, an oar operated vessel. Not long afterward, the ship sank, bow first. The crew survived, picked up by a passing schooner that dropped them off at Baileys Harbor.
The first serious attempt to find this wreck took place in the 1970s; after approximately 50 years of persistence, it finally paid off.
The F.J. King was built in Toledo in 1867, nineteen years before the sinking. It was a wooden three-mast schooner, 144 feet long. The future now that the search is over? If all goes according to wishes and hopes, the site of the wreck will become a listing on the national registers of historic places.
See the wreck for yourself in the gallery below.