GRAND HAVEN, MI -- A West Michigan shipwreck-exploring group has discovered a 90-foot two-masted schooner in deep water off the coast of Grand Haven.

The ship, found in 350-foot deep water, may be the 1868-built St. Peter, a ship that sank in 1874 while delivering a load of wheat from Chicago to Buffalo.

The discovery was made last October during a dive, but officials with the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association announced the find today.



Members of MSRA plan to talk about the exploration -- they shot a video during a 15-minute dive to document the wreckage -- during an April 21 presentation at the Knickerbocker Theater in Holland.

MSRA members located the schooner about 20 miles off the Grand Haven coast while working last summer with shipwreck-finder David Trotter and his side-scan sonar ship.

They could only spend 15 minutes near the ship because of the danger posed by the depth. It takes two hours to decompress from such a dive.

The video shows the ship is intact, with a cargo that may be grain and a unique scroll bow that typically only is found on schooners built in the early to mid-19th century.

Valerie van Heest, a MSRA director, said the only ship she could find in research that comes close to matching the details of the October discovery is the St. Peter.

The ship was named for the Patron Saint of Sailors and, according to its crew, sank about 35 miles off the Milwaukee coast. All of the crew survived.

Craig Rich, another MSRA director, said the ship's location near Grand Haven would be unusual.

“If this is the wreck of the St. Peter, then it drifted east for some time, coming to rest on the opposite side of Lake Michigan, significantly father east than the crew reported,” he said.

MSRA members plan to have a sample of the cargo analyzed this year. If it is wheat, it bolsters the supposition the ship is the St. Peter.

MSRA has located fourteen wrecks while working in partnership with Trotter, as well as nationally acclaimed author Clive Cussler.

E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison