Brendon Baillod thinks maybe the Griffon is next. It's a long shot, of course -- the Holy Grail of Great Lakes shipwrecks. Every year somebody claims they've found the Griffon, and every year they are wrong.

But last week a friend of Baillod's called him with some astonishing news about another discovery, one nearly the equal of finding the Griffon, and who is to say anything is impossible any longer?

"It was stunning," Baillod, 40, said of the phone call he received from his friend and colleague Jim Kennard. "I was in disbelief. It's like somebody found the Loch Ness monster."

What Kennard found is the wreck of the HMS Ontario, which was lost in a storm on Lake Ontario in 1780 -- 1780! -- with more than 120 people on board, some of them American Revolutionary War prisoners.

Kennard called Baillod, who for the past eight years has lived in the Madison area, not only because they are friends but because Baillod is one of the country's foremost experts on Great Lakes shipwrecks. He co-founded the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation and is currently president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association and director at large of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History.

On Monday Baillod was recalling the phone call, and Kennard's excitement on having located the Ontario: "He was over the top. He couldn't contain himself."

Baillod understood. He felt it himself when he saw Kennard's photos and video. The ship is in around 500 feet of water off the southern shore of Lake Ontario and appears to be in excellent condition.

"The ship looks like a ship in a bottle," Baillod said. "The masts are still standing from 1780."

Not long after Kennard's call last week, Baillod's phone began ringing with journalists seeking comment and Baillod's take on the historical importance of the discovery.

He told the Kingston Whig-Standard of Canada that the Ontario is "the most historically significant find ever in the Great Lakes."

Baillod continued: "My jaw just dropped when I saw the pictures. I knew exactly what it was when I saw it. It is hard to overstate the significance of this find. It's a mythical, legendary ship."

Shipwrecks and marine history are Baillod's passion; in his professional life he is a software engineer with Great Lakes Educational Loan Services in Madison. Baillod lives in the country (in the town of York) with his wife, Melissa, and their 6-year-old son, Justin, whom his dad describes as an aspiring marine historian and diver.

That's how it started for Brendon. He grew up on the Keweenaw Waterway in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The area was rich in marine history and as a kid Baillod dove in search of wrecks (often finding cars and snowmobiles instead), switching from snorkel to scuba and becoming caught up in the romance of shipwreck lore.

After moving to Wisconsin -- he lived in Milwaukee prior to coming to Madison -- Baillod began in earnest to collect books and other items related to Great Lakes history. Today he believes his collection of more than 3,000 such items is the largest private holding in the world.

The collection includes accident records from 19th Century insurance companies that have helped Baillod put together a comprehensive list of Great Lakes shipwrecks. He is frequently consulted when a wreck is discovered or a discovery is thought to be imminent.

In 2007, Baillod helped identify the 101-foot-long Milwaukee Fire Boat No. 23, which helped fight waterfront fires until its sinking in 1923. Just last month, Baillod was with a team on Lake Michigan off Sheboygan that identified the 101-foot wooden tugboat steamer Robert C. Pringle, which sank in July 1922. The Pringle, too, appears to be in fine condition. "You could raise it and sail it," Baillod said, which speaks to how well ships can be preserved in the deep freshwater lakes.

While the discovery of the Ontario is huge news, the oldest Great Lakes shipwreck of them all is still out there somewhere, tantalizing historians and divers. The Griffon, built by the French explorer Rene-Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, disappeared in 1679 in northern Lake Michigan.

"It is the Holy Grail of the Great Lakes," Baillod said.

Baillod intends to search for the Griffon, and he thinks he has an advantage. Baillod recently learned of the existence of letters, written in French by LaSalle (who was not on board when the Griffon disappeared), which provide many details of its last days.

Baillod has translated the letters and now thinks it may be possible to formulate "a small search grid of where the Griffon could be." It's still a long shot, but one worth taking. Some day a ship people think is the Griffon may really be the Griffon.

Contact Doug Moe at 608-252-6446 or dmoe@madison.com.