Joliet's Own Titanic: Houseboat Sinking Into Des Plaines River 1 Gallon Of Water At A Time | Photo Gallery

JOLIET, IL — Hollywood movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet drew worldwide acclaim in "Titanic." Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot came up with his ballad "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald," about the iron ore freighter that sank in Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members in 1975.

Now, Joliet has its own boat taking in water, but it remains to be seen whether Joliet-area megastars such as Lionel Richie, Melissa McCarthy or Nick Offerman will use their creative juices and artistic talents to draw worldwide attention to the saga surrounding Joliet's slowly sinking ship.

For those who have talked about it on social media, it's an eerie sight for motorists traveling along Route 6. The old houseboat, tied up by a rope to a dock for years, is slowly taking on water. The sinking of the boat has only been evident in March.

The houseboat and an adjacent tugboat are part of a collection of old abandoned boats that have turned into a ship graveyard of sorts. One of the main boats docked in the Des Plaines River just north of the Brandon Road Bridge is an old Mississippi riverboat called the King's Landing. The King's Landing has been docked near Rockdale for at least 20 years, according to village of Rockdale leaders.

Rockdale officials told Joliet Patch they just became aware of the sinking houseboat this past week, but there's really nothing the village can do about it since the houseboat is in the Des Plaines River, not the village of Rockdale proper.

On Friday, a Joliet planning commission member told Patch he no longer owns the sinking houseboat or the other collection of boats being kept along the concrete walls of the Des Plaines River. He said the sinking boat is now owned by a man who lives in southern Illinois, and the man has been made aware of the situation.

The former houseboat owner told Joliet Patch one of the recent fierce storms that rocked the Joliet area is what caused the houseboat to take on water and start to sink. It remains to be seen if the boat will continue to take on more water and completely submerge underwater.

The former owner believes the houseboat will not become completely submerged and that it has taken in about as much water as it can. Most of the surrounding property along Route 6 is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or Egan Marine, he said.