This seemingly ends the story of the Seabird disaster. It is a fascinating, though tragic, footnote in the early history of steamboat navigation and of the opening of the Great Lakes and ultimately the West to civilization and commerce. Some histories, though, never come to an end. They just lie dormant for many years. One hundred twenty-one years after the tragedy, the history of the Seabird began again, when in 1989 a Chicago salvor by the name of Harry Zych, of American Diving and Salvage Company, brought suit in Federal Court for salvage rights to the Seabird. It appeared that the steamboat was to be a test case to challenge the constitutionality of the 1987 federal Abandoned Shipwreck Act which gave states sovereignty over their territorial waters. The case was ruled against the salvor in 1993. Except for some occasional sightseeing divers, the remains of the Seabird once again lie forgotten at the bottom of Lake Michigan

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