An 80-year-old shipwreck hunter has finally located a luxury steamer that sank in Lake Michigan more than 150 years ago, ending a personal quest that stretched nearly six decades.
Paul Ehorn, an Illinois-based diver, pinpointed the Lac La Belle roughly 20 miles off the Wisconsin shoreline between Racine and Kenosha in October 2022, according to the Associated Press (AP). Ehorn had pursued the vessel since 1965, when he first began piecing together clues about its resting place.
A tip from shipwreck enthusiast and author Ross Richardson proved crucial in 2022. Richardson told the AP that a commercial fisherman had snagged an object specific to 19th-century steamships at a particular spot, which helped Ehorn zero in on the likely location. Using side-scan sonar, Ehorn located the wreck in just two hours. (RELATED: Researchers Uncover Mystery Behind Legendary Explorer’s Shipwreck Decades Later)
“It’s kind of a game, like solve the puzzle,” Ehorn told the AP. “Sometimes you don’t have many pieces to put the puzzle together but this one worked out and we found it right away.”
The announcement came years after the actual discovery because Ehorn’s team wanted to produce a three-dimensional video model of the site. Poor weather and scheduling conflicts delayed their return dive until summer 2025, the AP reported.
Shipwreck World announced that a team led by Illinois shipwreck hunter Paul Ehorn found the Lac La Belle about 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin https://t.co/2NEOnOQnZz
— WMBD News (@WMBDNews) February 16, 2026
The 217-foot steamer was constructed in Cleveland in 1864 and originally operated routes between Cleveland and Lake Superior, the AP reported.
After a collision sent it to the bottom of the St. Clair River in 1866, salvagers raised and refurbished the vessel in 1869. Its final voyage came on Oct. 13, 1872, when it departed Milwaukee bound for Grand Haven, Michigan, carrying 53 passengers and crew along with cargo including barley, pork, flour and whiskey. The ship began flooding beyond the crew’s ability to control about two hours out. Massive waves swamped the vessel and killed its boiler fires, forcing the captain to order an evacuation. Eight people died when one lifeboat overturned.
The wreck’s exterior is now blanketed with invasive quagga mussels, though the hull remains intact and oak interiors survive in solid condition, according to the AP.
Shipwreck hunters have grown increasingly urgent in recent years as quagga mussels slowly consume historic vessels throughout the Great Lakes, according to the AP.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Water Library estimates the region contains 6,000 to 10,000 wrecks, most still undiscovered, the outlet reported.
The Lac La Belle represents Ehorn’s 15th successful find.
“It was one more to put a check mark by,” Ehorn told the AP. “Now it’s on to the next one. It’s getting harder and harder. The easier ones have been found.”