Michigan is fighting with France!

Well you think we've got problems, at least we're not fighting with a whole other country ...

Michigan and France are fighting over the possible - possible - wreck of a 17th century ship in Lake Michigan.

In the story in the Detroit Free Press, it says no one is even sure that they've found the wreck of the Griffin, which was built by the French explorer La Salle.

The Griffin (also spelled “Griffon”) disappeared on its maiden voyage in 1679 after embarking from an island near Green Bay, Wis., with a crew of six and a cargo of furs and other goods.

Of course, Michigan wasn't the State of Michigan then ... and France wasn't really France as we know it today. But at least there was a France!

Not that I'm on their side.

From Wikipedia:

In 1679, Lord La Salle of France directed the construction of the Griffin, the first European sailing vessel on the upper Great Lakes. That same year, La Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph.

Did you know Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world? It also has 12,000 inland lakes! I grew up, from the age of 7, on one of them.