Le Griffon

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"Building the Griffon" from Hennepin's Nouvelle Decouverte

Woodcut of the Griffon

Built by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Le Griffon is considered to have been the first full-sized sailing ship on the upper Great Lakes of North America. The ship was launched in Cayuga Creek as a forty-five ton barque with five to seven cannons. It measured 20 m (60 feet) overall. Accompanying la Salle on this voyage was father Louis Hennepin. On its maiden voyage beginning on August 7, 1679, it was sailed across Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan with a crew of 34. La Salle disembarked and on September 18, 1679 sent the ship back toward Niagara. On its return trip from Green Bay, Wisconsin, it vanished with all six crew members and a load of furs.

A number of sunken old sailing ships have been suggested to be Le Griffon but, except for the ones proven to be other ships, there has been no positive identification. One candidate is a wreck at the western end of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, with another wreck near Escanaba, Michigan, also proposed. The Griffon was the second in a string of thousands of ships that have found their last berth on the bottom of the Great Lakes.

Le Griffon is mistakenly called the first ship to be lost to the Great Lakes. The first ship was another built by La Salle, called the Frontenac, a 10-ton single-decked brigantine or barque. The Frontenac was lost in Lake Ontario, on January 8, 1679.