A debris field at the Lake Michigan floor may contain the remains of the long-lost European vessel Griffin, a shipwreck hunter has claimed.

Steve Libert, who has searched for the missing ship for decades, told The Associated Press that his group located the debris this month about 120 feet from the area where they took a wooden slab protruding from the lake floor last year. He believes the piece of wood was the bowsprit of one of Sieur de La Salle's ship called Rene-Robert Cavelier, Yahoo! News relayed.

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Scientists who were part of the 2013 expedition think that the timber was just an abandoned fishing net stake. Libert, on the other hand, says he is "99.9% sure" that it is the Griffin.

According to Libert, the bottom of the lake is littered with lengths of wood that could be part of a ship's bow. It also contains nails and pegs that could have been used to fix the hull to the vessel and objects that seem to be parts of a mast.

The long-time explorer admitted that his crew did not find any cannons or other artifacts with markings that could confirm that they belong to the missing Griffin. But Libert said the nails and other objects looked similar to the implements from La Belle, a La Salle ship that capsized near the Gulf of Mexico.

Libert said his group has sent photos of the Lake Michigan debris to three French underwater archaeologists who participated in the expedition last year. They, in turn, plan to secure legal permits to start digging up the area in September.

The debris field at the bottom of Lake Michigan is as big as a football field, according to Brian Abbott from Nautilus Marine Group. Abbott had participated in Libert's expedition this month and had taken sonar readings of the lake floor.

The area containing the debris is about 50 feet below the surface of the lake and is near Poverty Island in the northwestern part of Lake Michigan.

The Griffin, which was commanded by a French explorer in the 17^th century, is believed to be the first European-designed vessel to reach the upper Great Lakes. It went missing together with its six-person crew during its maiden voyage in 1679.