Poverty Island is a small island in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The island is within Delta County in

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

and is home to the Poverty Island Light Station, an abandoned lighthouse which is in disrepair. Poverty Island is currently owned by the federal government.

Le Griffon

On June 16, 2013, U.S. and French archeologists began examining an underwater object first discovered in 2001 near Poverty Island that could be the wreck of ''

Le Griffon ''Le Griffon'' (, ''The Griffin'') was a sailing vessel built by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679. ''Le Griffon'' was constructed and launched at or near Cayuga Island on the Niagara River and was armed with seven cannons. The ...

'', although it will take time to determine if it is even a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

. Dean Anderson, the Michigan State Archeologist, examined the object, an alleged "

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Middle L ...

," and determined it to be a fishing net stake. ''Le Griffon'' was the first full-sized European style sailing ship on the upper

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

that was built and commanded by the French explorer

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, ...

in 1679. The ship disappeared with all six crew members and its cargo of furs on its return trip of her maiden voyage that same year. The location and reason of her sinking has remained a mystery ever since.

Other islands in the chain

(North to south) *

Little Summer Island Little Summer Island is an island in Lake Michigan. It is located in Fairbanks Township, in Delta County, Michigan. It was logged extensively in the late 1800s. Other islands in the chain are from north to south *Little Summer Island * Summer I ...

Summer Island Summer Island is an island in Lake Michigan, 2.5 miles (4 km) miles off the southern tip of the Garden Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. It can easily be seen from Fairport, on the southern end of Delta County Road 483, the locally ma ...

* Poverty Island * Gull Island *

St. Martin Island St. Martin Island is located off the Garden Peninsula in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the southernmost island in Michigan that is part of a line of islands at the mouth of the bay of Green Bay and is part of the Niagara Esc ...

* Rock Island * Washington Island *

Pilot Island Pilot Island is an island in Lake Michigan in the Town of Washington, in Door County, Wisconsin; it is part of Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in ...

Detroit Island Detroit Island is an island in Lake Michigan in the southern part of the town of Washington in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The island has a land area of 2.578 km² (0.9955 sq mi, or 637.12 acres), out of which 27.6% is open to the ...

* Plum Island

External links

Beacons in the Night, Michigan Lighthouse Chronology, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.
* *

Notes

Islands of Delta County, Michigan Uninhabited islands of Michigan Islands of Lake Michigan in Michigan {{DeltaCountyMI-geo-stub