Divers inspect a hole being dug beside a wooden beam jutting from the floor of Lake Michigan during a search for the Griffin.   (AP Photo/Great Lakes Exploration Group, David J. Ruck )

Excerpt from newser.com

There are thousands of shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes, but one of the very first full-sized ship to go down has been one of the hardest to find.

The Griffin, built by French explorer Robert de la Salle, sank in Lake Michigan in 1679 and divers Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe say they are sure they have finally found it.

The pair tell WZZM13 that they spotted the wreck in 2011, but waited until now to reveal the discovery of what some call the “holy grail” of Great Lakes shipwrecks while they consulted experts.

There are “no cables, no cabin, and no smokestacks,” no mechanical devices of any kind, and a carving on the front of the ship strongly resembles 17th-century French carvings of griffins, Dykstra says.

“We found the mystery ship, the Griffin; now we’re going to find the gold,” he says.