THE GRIFFON, ARGUING OVER WHO KNOWS WHAT

Shipwreck hunting ought to be something conducted in the water. But often the most arduous part of discovering ships happens in the courtroom.
And so of late it has been the federal court, not submerged spars and masts that have made news about the 17th century Griffon, the long lost, so-called "holy grail of Great Lakes shipwrecks," the oldest in the upper lakes.
The U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled in late April reversed a district court decision about who should managed the exploration of what may (or may not) be the Griffon.
In 2001, a shipwreck hunter poking around in the murky waters of northern Lake Michigan found a piece what may be the Griffon. He had a sliver of wood analyzed from the what might have been a spar. The experts said, this could be the one.
The famed French explorer LaSalle was the man bend The Griffon (sometimes spelled Griffin. He built and sailed it in 1679, almost 100 years before the Revolutionary War. It disappeared without a trace that same year. LaSalle himself was somewhere else at the time.
As centuries have passed, many searchers have claimed to have found the Griffon. But every one was proven wrong. Instead they had discovered other sunken ships or a drowned fishing boat or, in one rather embarrassing case, a bridge abutment.
Now comes Steven Libert, the shipwreck hunter, who heads Great Lakes Exploration Group, LLC. He claims that Griffon well may lie somewhere near Poverty Island in Lake Michigan. He won't say exactly where.
In a simpler, less litigous world, he would have just uncovered what he had found, had some proper tests done and the world would know one way or the other what lay there under the water.
Right now, no one knows for sure. And probably will not know for awhile yet since the whole matter has been bouncing through the courts.
Libert wants the right to explore and manage his discovery. He thinks the federal government should appoint him to do the job. The state of Michigan disagrees. Whatever he found belows to the state, it says. And then there's the French government which may have some cards to play.
In the meantime, something continues to lie unexplored under Lake Michigan's waters.
Maybe it's the Griffon. Maybe not.
Stay tuned.