LANSING, MI - Michigan Archaeologist Dean Anderson Monday showed some interest in a Lake Michigan wreck discovered by Muskegon-area divers they say could be the long-lost Griffin.

"This is certainly something that the state of Michigan is interested in," Anderson said Jan. 5. His office keeps a record of all shipwrecks discovered on Lake Michigan "bottom lands" under Michigan's jurisdiction.

Fruitport's Kevin Dykstra and Muskegon's Frederick Monroe found a wreck in Lake Michigan that they think could be the Griffin -- the earliest known shipwreck on the Great Lakes, missing since September 1679.

Also known by the French equivalent Le Griffon, explorer Rene-Robert Sieur de La Salle built and commanded the ship on behalf of King Louis XIV. During its maiden voyage in September 1679, the Griffin departed from the area near present-day Green Bay, Wis. Carrying a crew of six and cargo of furs, the ship was never seen again.

The state will occasionally become involved in diving underwater archaeological sites. Anderson has a recreational license for scuba diving, but said Michigan also keeps on staff a qualified underwater archaeologist, who is attached to the Department of Natural Resources.

"It's certainly not something I would rule out," Anderson said. "A wreck that's got something special to it, or may have, that's something that we would (consider)."

The state in 2013 gave permission for exploration of a different site that the private Great Lakes Exploration Group thought could be the resting place of the Griffin.

"The investigation didn't produce any evidence that there was a shipwreck there," Anderson said. A timber sticking vertically out of the ground turned out to be stake once used to secure a fisherman's net, he said.

Dykstra and Monroe's find may look more like a ship, but Anderson isn't ready to say it's the Griffin, or commit to diving the wreck.

""It's a little too soon to say, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility," he said.

Stephen Kloosterman covers local government, employment and the outdoors for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at sklooste@mlive.com or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+

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