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MI couple running out of time to prove they found Great Lakes' oldest shipwreck

This reporter dived in Lake Michigan over wreckage said by his guides to be of the Griffin, the oldest shipwreck in the Great Lakes.

Sharing the scene with fish and fellow diver Tom Kucharsky, a production worker at Crown Cork & Seal in Dayton, I got within inches of what once had been tall North American trees, shaped by axes centuries ago, now partly buried in sand. The storm could’ve shoved the ship onto a sandy shoal, broken it into pieces, drowned the crew of just six sailors, and washed the wreckage into the shallow water where, the Liberts believe, it sat untouched for 3½ centuries, awaiting their discovery. McMaster recalled the many years that the Liberts struggled, in negotiations and costly court fights, trying to get permission from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, to bring up artifacts that would prove they'd found La Salle's ship.

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