Could two legendary lost treasures – a 335-year-old shipwreck and a sunken boxcar containing $2 million in missing Confederate gold – be sitting at the bottom of northern Lake Michigan?

Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe, two Muskegon scuba divers and recreational treasure hunters, made national headlines this month when they announced the discovery of a shipwreck they believed could be the famous Le Griffon. The first full-sized sailing ship to travel the Upper Great Lakes, the vessel was rumored to have sunk in 1679 in the northern waters of Lake Michigan while voyaging from Wisconsin to Niagara. The Griffon today is considered the holy grail of Michigan shipwreck hunters.

Dykstra and Monroe came across wreckage they believe could be the Griffon in 2011, but kept quiet about their findings until they could consult with experts. They have now turned over evidence – including the ship’s location and photos showing what they believe is a carving of a griffin on the vessel's bow – to state archeologists.

“They would like to go out there sometime this summer to check it out,” Dykstra tells The Ticker of the wreck site. “We’re concerned that if we go back ourselves, people will follow us. The state could get out there unannounced and not have eyes following them.”

Dykstra declined to identify exactly where “there” is – but both the ship’s rumored resting place and another missing treasure point to northern Michigan. Unlike countless other divers, Dykstra and Monroe weren’t actually looking for the Griffon when they discovered the potential wreck site. Instead, they were tracking a lost boxcar believed to contain $2 million in stolen Confederate gold bullion – valued at $126 million today – with historical ties to the Traverse City area. (Read a detailed account of the gold’s history here.)

The duo believe the treasure was dumped from a ferry into Lake Michigan off the coast of Frankfort. “We found one train car out there already,” Dykstra says, explaining how heavy boxcars were often shoved off the side of ferries during storms to save them from sinking. “We know there are more. The ferries were coming in and out of Frankfort all the time. We believe it’s out there.”

Does that mean the Griffon is also nearby? Dykstra concedes people will likely make that connection, given the duo’s search territory, though he’s quick to point out “there’s a lot of water out there – and it’s deep.” While protective of the shipwreck site, Dykstra and Monroe made the decision to go public about the gold's rumored location in the hopes more searchers might turn something up. “If there were a lot of eyes out there, we might be able to accomplish in one summer what would take the two of us 10 years,” Dykstra says.

If you're wondering why two self-identified treasure hunters wouldn’t keep a potential $126 million secret to themselves, that's because there’s a catch: Michigan law states that artifacts recovered on state land – including Great Lakes bottomland – belong to the state. While Dykstra says he and Monroe have enjoyed searching for the lost treasure, their main priority is to see the historically significant items returned to the state.

“If someone else found it and didn’t try to keep anything, I would be just as happy for them as I would be for us,” Dykstra says. “That’s our biggest concern. That’s why we went to the state (with the Griffon). It doesn’t matter who finds the gold – just as long as they do the right thing with it."

Photo credit: Kevin Dykstra