It may take lots of work and research, but sometimes long-lasting expeditions finally pay off. Scientist Steve Libert has been looking for the wreck of the French vessel known as Le Griffon for his entire adult life, and now he is "99.9 percent" sure that he's found it.
For more than 300 years, this ship has been lost, and was originally used by the explorer Robert La Salle to sail around the Great Lakes. Libert has been tenacious, though, and has been scouring a site in Lake Michigan where a piece of the wreckage was possibly found 13 years ago.
Libert has scanned this piece to scans to determine its age, and though he hasn't found a specific reading, he is confident that it is indeed the ship he has been searching for. If correct, he hopes to get permission to excavate the full wreck.
"f it's 300 years old there's only one ship it could be," Libert told the New York Daily News. "There's nothing that we've found that's leading us to any other ship. It's definitely very old."
An ongoing search like this can require diving insurance that is consistent that applies to all of the different equipment that might be involved. One single insurance provider can be more helpful in this manner.
Not everyone seems to be in agreement over the identity of the wreck: while Libert has found some support from French colleagues, one has noted the need for further evidence. And the state archeologist of Michigan, Dean Anderson, also believes that there simply isn't enough proof to make this claim.
Either way, shipwreck hunters need to take the time to secure diving and supply boat insurance to make sure their work doesn't suffer.