u/SALVAGE-PODCAST

I down a rabbit hole and found this amazing story

The man is known to history as La Salle - he was not a man who thought small, just like Musk today, he was a visionary, a creator and often unpopular too.

His idea was relatively simple - build the first European style ship to be used for trade on the Great Lakes.

But the thing is - the lakes had no access to the ocean back then - he had to have it built in the wilderness.

The equivalent of building a rocket in the desert.

They built it near the Niagara Falls, and sailed it up into Lake Michigan.

Loaded it with Fur - fur was extremely valuable at the time and La Salle needed to trade it to pay off his debts and further his huge ideas.

But - and here’s the mystery

La Salle watched his ship sail away, loaded with fur, six men onboard.

They fired the cannon in salute.

And then they disappeared - never to be seen again, to this very day!

People have been searching for hundreds of years and still there is no answer.

There is one possible finding but that’s yet to be confirmed.

No bodies ever found - six men completely gone.

The ship was called Le Griffon.

A fascinating story.

So I published an episode about the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I didn’t know that much about other Great Lakes stories - and researching the Fitz led me down a rabbit hole. One I’m still in!

So I’ve published a second Great Lakes episode covering three mysteries

I don’t necessarily cover the technical aspects of the stories - as I want to make the stories accessible to as many people as possible who may not otherwise hear this type of story.

The three stories I chose for the second episode are:
Le Griffon
Bannockburn
Inkerman and Cerisoles

I sailed professionally back in the day all over the world. Therefore I still get asked this quite often and did just last night.

The obvious answer is: “it depends what you’re looking for” but that’s a cop out

My all out answer is: The British Virgin Islands

But I’m very interested to hear - what’s the best sailing location you’ve ever been to?

At the start of the week both players and pundits were predicting a driving “slug fest” and that the rough really didn’t matter.

Huge drives would win the week they said - players and pundits alike.

I heard one pundit predict a winning score of close to -18

How in this world could they all have gotten it so so wrong?

These are people that have spent their whole lives playing and commenting on golf

They knew the weather forecast - they knew the wind would blow

I don’t understand

It was 1679

A ship called Le Griffon sailed out into Lake Michigan and had never been seen since.

Most people have never heard of Le Griffon — yet its disappearance is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in North American history.

In 1679, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle launched a ship unlike anything the Great Lakes had ever seen. Le Griffon was a 45-ton barque built above Niagara Falls, in wilderness so remote it might as well have been another planet. Indigenous nations watched in disbelief as La Salle’s crew dragged anchors, cannons, and rigging through dense forest and raging rapids to create the first large European sailing ship on the upper Great Lakes.

Think about the mindset required for that.

La Salle wasn’t just an explorer — he was the Elon Musk of the 17th century. Obsessive. Visionary. Recklessly ambitious. The kind of man who convinced investors to fund ideas most people thought were impossible. While others saw endless water and hostile wilderness, La Salle saw a commercial empire stretching across an entire continent. Le Griffon was his prototype Starship.

And then it vanished.

After loading its cargo of valuable furs near Green Bay, Le Griffon sailed east toward Niagara… and was never seen again. No confirmed wreckage. No survivors. No distress signal. Just silence across the cold inland seas.

For over 340 years, treasure hunters, historians, and divers have searched for the ship. Some believe it sank in a violent storm on Lake Michigan. Others think the crew mutinied. A few theories claim it was deliberately destroyed to sabotage La Salle’s ambitions.

The eerie part is this: the Great Lakes are so vast and deep that Le Griffon could still be sitting perfectly preserved in darkness somewhere beneath the water. Perhaps it has been found but this is unconfirmed.

An entire ship. Frozen in time since the 1600s.

Waiting to be found.

After doing the Fitz episode I’ve been captivated by Great Lakes stories- especially the mysterious ones

Therefore I’m doing something unplanned

Currently putting together a three in one episode:
Le Griffon
Bannockburn
Inkerman and Cerisoles

Planning to publish on Sunday - will look forward to hearing what people think

This movie has sparked debate in our house.

I actually really enjoyed it - perfect mindless entertainment for a Saturday night.

But here is the discussion point:

Why do some humans feel the need to try and scale crazy dangerous mountains?

A viable answer is not: “because they are there”
Or “why not?”

There are much deeper philosophical reasons than that I feel.

In my opinion I think it’s bonkers - this movie proves that.

Are these people missing something in life to feel they have to do this?

What is your opinion?

I have dived all over the world - many times with sharks - jaws is a movie that has given a shark a really bad reputation.
More often than not sharks attack humans because of mistaken identity - not because they are psychopaths that want to kill humans.
AMA

I’ve been getting good feedback on this fascinating true story - if you’re interested to hear it let me know

This obviously plays a big part in the Fitz story

How do you handle this ?

I always had a huge interest in big maritime events, disasters and history.

I’ve found this a great way to put things in perspective and learn.

I did not know how bad it was until reading this

I am old school and think of podcasts as audio only