René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
Tired of waiting on the Griffon — the first European built ship to sail on Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan — to return, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and five other men left Fort Miami (present-day St. Joseph) to journey across the southern Lower Peninsula. Battling cold temperatures, snow, swamps and Indians, La Salle’s men reached Niagara on April 4, 1680, becoming the first Europeans to see the interior of the Lower Peninsula in the process. The Griffon never met LaSalle at the mouth of the St. Joseph River because it either sank or was sunk carrying a load of furs back to the falls of the Niagra River. Divers have recently claimed to have found the Griffon in the northern part of Lake Michigan.
Source: Michigan is Amazing, Michigan Every Day, and other news reports.
Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle entry from Biography.com