Shipwreck Hunter Solves 60 Year Mystery After Finding Lost Luxury Steamer

A Lifelong Quest Comes Full Circle

At 80 years old, Paul Ehorn has spent more time searching for shipwrecks than most people have been alive. His obsession began when he was just 15, and he's been hunting specifically for the Lac La Belle since 1965 . What started as a teenage fascination became a six-decade quest that finally reached its conclusion in the waters of Lake Michigan.

The Illinois shipwreck hunter's team discovered the luxury steamer about 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, in October 2022 . But Ehorn wasn't ready to celebrate just yet. The announcement was deliberately delayed because his team wanted to create a three-dimensional video model of the ship, though poor weather and scheduling conflicts prevented diving until last summer .

The breakthrough came from an unexpected source. Fellow wreck hunter Ross Richardson had learned that a commercial fisherman at a "certain location" had snagged what Richardson called an item specific to steam ships from the 1800s . Using this clue to narrow his search grid, Ehorn found the ship using side-scan sonar after just two hours on the lake .

Tragedy Beneath the Waves

The Lac La Belle was a 217-foot steamer that went down in October 1872 , but its story began years earlier. Built in Cleveland, Ohio in 1864, the vessel originally ran between Cleveland and Lake Superior . The massive steamer had already survived one sinking in the St. Clair River in 1866 after a collision, only to be raised in 1869 and reconditioned .

The ship's final voyage began when it left Milwaukee for Grand Haven, Michigan, in a gale on the night of October 13, 1872, carrying 53 passengers and crew along with cargo including barley, pork, flour and whiskey . About two hours into the trip, the ship began taking on water uncontrollably, and when the captain turned back toward Milwaukee, huge waves crashed over the vessel, extinguishing her boilers .

Around 5 a.m., as the storm drove the ship southward, the captain ordered lifeboats lowered and the Lac La Belle went down stern-first. One lifeboat capsized on the way to shore, killing eight people, while the other lifeboats successfully reached the Wisconsin coast between Racine and Kenosha .

Preserved by Time and Cold Water

The discovery reveals a vessel remarkably preserved by Lake Michigan's cold, fresh water. While the wreck's exterior is covered with invasive quagga mussels and the upper cabins are gone, the hull appears intact and the oak interiors remain in good condition . The Lac La Belle sits upright on the bottom of the lake , a ghostly reminder of 19th-century Great Lakes commerce.

This marks the 15th shipwreck Ehorn has located in his distinguished career . "It was one more to put a check mark by," he said matter-of-factly. "Now it's on to the next one. It's getting harder and harder. The easier ones have been found."

Racing Against Time

The Great Lakes harbor an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 shipwrecks, most of which remain undiscovered . Shipwreck hunters have been searching with increased urgency in recent years due to concerns that invasive quagga mussels are slowly destroying these underwater archaeological sites .

Ehorn's methodical approach reflects both the scientific value and personal passion driving modern shipwreck hunting. "It's kind of a game, like solve the puzzle," he explained. "Sometimes you don't have many pieces to put the puzzle together but this one worked out and we found it right away." As these underwater time capsules face increasing threats from invasive species and time itself, each discovery becomes more precious—and each successful hunt more challenging than the last.