Decades-long hunt yields Lac La Belle wreck in Lake Michigan

Searchers led by Paul Ehorn of Shipwreck World located the 217-foot luxury steamer Lac La Belle off Wisconsin, completing a roughly six-decade quest. Built in 1864, it sank in October 1872 after a gale while sailing from Milwaukee to Grand Haven; the wreck lies about 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha, remains largely intact with the hull preserved and the exterior mussel-covered. Discovered in 2022 and announced in 2026 with a 3D model, it marks Ehorn’s 15th shipwreck find as investigators press on for the next discovery.