Rochester, New York -  A large crane and associated construction equipment with an estimate worth of over $700,000 lost in a violent October gale in 1981 has been discovered by a team of shipwreck explorers in Lake Ontario.

The team consisting of Jim Kennard, Dan Scoville, Roland Stevens, and Craig Hampton had been searching this summer for a lost steamer approximately 30 miles east of Niagara, and over 8 miles from shore when several large objects were detected on the bottom at a depth of nearly 500 feet.  The team deployed an underwater remote operated vehicle (ROV) to explore the targets.   It was only last week after a shipwreck colleague recalled the incident and sent Kennard an article from the October 8, 1981 Democrat & Chronicle newspaper that the story of the lost deck cargo came to light.

Work Barge Capsizes in October Gale

The work barge, Western Brave, loaded with a large crane had been working on the water intake and discharge system for the NYS Electric & Gas coal fired power plant at Somerset, New York.  When a storm began to build in strength, the lake side construction on the power plant was halted and the barge with 11 people on board was towed back to Toronto to avoid being capsized by heading into the waves.  As the storm grew in intensity, with winds upward of 60 miles per hour and waves of 10 to 12 feet, the tug pulling the barge could not make any headway.   The US Coast Guard was contacted and a helicopter from the Canadian Forces was immediately dispatched to rescue the workers stranded on board the work barge. Within 20 minutes of their rescue the barge capsized spilling its entire deck load of construction equipment into the deep depths of Lake Ontario.  The crane is believed to be a Manitowoc 4600.  The equipment was owned by the Lakeshore Construction Company of Muskegon, Michigan. 

A Debris Field of Construction Equipment

The ROV, piloted from the surface, landed on top of the cab of a large construction crane.  Loose cables were dangling off of the crane along with jagged metal pieces protruding from the lake bottom. A short distance from the cab and crane there lay another section of crane estimated to be 75 feet in length.  An overturned trailer, tanks, clam shell grab, large unidentified box, cables, and torn pieces of metal were just some of the items captured on nearly one hour of video that was collected as the ROV explored the area of the debris field.  Dan Scoville did a fantastic job in maneuvering the ROV through this very hazardous environment to explore the field of construction equipment that had landed on the bottom when the barge capsized.   

Barge Recovered

The barge continued to stay afloat during the storm and travelled another 25 miles east coming to rest in 30 feet of water near the Eagle Marina at Kendall, NY.   A few days following the storm the Lakeshore Construction Company had the barge towed back to Toronto.  The Western Brave barge still exists today.

Lake Ontario Shipwreck Survey

The shipwreck survey in Lake Ontario was funded by a grant from the Great Lakes Historical Society of Vermillion, Ohio.

 Shipwreck Discovery Team

Jim Kennard has been diving and exploring the lakes in the northeast since 1970. He has found over 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, NY Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers over the past 35 years. Using his background as an electrical engineer, he built the side scan sonar system that located many of these shipwrecks in the past.   In 1983 he discovered a unique horse powered ferryboat in Lake Champlain.  National Geographic featured the ferryboat in their October 1989 issue.  Several other of his shipwreck discoveries have been reported in various publications including Skin Diver, Wreck Diver, Inland Seas, and Sea Technology.

Dan Scoville is an experienced cave and technical diver. He utilizes custom gas mixtures of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen to dive to depths of over 300 feet. In 2005, Dan led the development of an Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle with a team of college seniors from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is currently a project manager and electrical engineer for Oceaneering International and was one of the team that built the tools that fixed the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico for British Petroleum.

Roland ‘Chip’ Stevens is a retired architect and working artist whose watercolors are well known in the Rochester area, many of which have been accepted into national exhibitions.  A sailor for many years, Stevens has a love of the sea, as reflected in his seascapes.  A number of his paintings of shipwrecks discovered by the team have appeared in various news stories and publications.  

Craig Hampton has been a certified SCUBA diver for over 40 years.  He is a master Mercury Marine mechanic and owner of the Boat Doctor in Lorain Ohio.  Craig has discovered several historic shipwrecks with Jim Kennard in Lake Erie.

In May 2008 the team of Kennard, Scoville, and Stevens discovered the British warship HMS Ontario, the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Great Lakes, and in late September 2008 they also discovered a rare 200 year old "dagger-board" schooner, both of which received worldwide attention in the news.

Contact:

Jim Kennard:   Email:  kennard@rochester.rr.com        Tel:  585-223-4500

Dan Scoville:   Email:   stealthdive@aol.com                 Tel:    832-423-6318

Click here for D&C News articles:

NOTE:  4 minute video available upon request.

Image files for the lost deck cargo below:

Not for release until Friday, July 15, 2011

Rochester, New York - A mid 1800's Canadian schooner, Queen of the Lakes, has been discovered in deep water off the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Sodus Point, New York.  Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard, Dan Scoville, and Roland Stevens confirmed their discovery last week while recording video images of the ship with the use of an underwater remote operated vehicle.  

Massive leak in hull sends schooner to bottom of the lake

The 53 year old schooner, Queen of the Lakes, was enroute to Kingston, Ontario with 480 tons of coal when she sprang a massive leak during a late November gale and was sent to the bottom of Lake Ontario.  The steamer had departed Charlotte (Rochester, NY) in the early evening of November 28,1906 with a crew of six men on board. When the schooner was east of Sodus Point and about ten miles from shore, one of the crew discovered that the ship was taking on water.   The leak was very serious and the bilge pumps could not expel the incoming flow of water fast enough.  Captain Daryaw turned the Queen of the Lakes about and headed for Sodus Point, the nearest port, in order to save the ship and its crew.  The schooner was sinking rapidly however and it was determined that they would not make it to shore in time.   The ship’s yawl was made ready and the crew and captain left the sinking ship.  When they were less than 50 feet away from the schooner the Queen of the Lakes disappeared into the deep depths of Lake Ontario. 

Midnight journey on a small boat through rough seas

It was midnight when the crew abandoned the sinking ship.  The sea was rolling high and the men found it difficult to keep the small boat from overturning.   The cold winds were very strong and the temperature continued to drop at a rapid rate. The crew battled the seas and the late November gale for many hours on Lake Ontario.  After rowing nearly 15 miles they landed in the area of Chimney Bluffs and then were later transported to Lake Bluff and then on to Sodus Point.    

Queen of the Lakes built in 1858 at Portsmouth, Ontario

The Queen of theLakes, originally named the Robert Taylor, was built in the Portsmouth, Ontario shipyard in 1853.  The ship registration records show that sometime prior to 1864 the ship was given its new name.  Initially, the Queen of the Lakes was a 2-masted schooner with a length of nearly 129 feet and a beam of 23 feet.  In 1884 she came ashore and was damaged near Avon Point in Lake Erie.  Then in 1886 she incurred major damage after being wrecked near Brighton, Ontario.  The Queen of the Lakes was rebuilt and a third mast added by Richardson & Sons of Kingston, Canada in 1887.  Unfortunately the owners did not have any insurance on the vessel so it was a total loss for them when it sank in 1906.

The Discovery

While conducting a search for shipwrecks in Lake Ontario in August, 2009, the stunning image of a three-masted schooner appeared on the screen of the DeepVision side scan sonar system employed by the team.   The ship was found in deep water beyond the reasonable depths for SCUBA divers.  A remote operated vehicle (ROV) was needed to explore the shipwreck.    

A long two year wait

At the time of the discovery the ROV that the team had utilized in the past belonging to Dan Scoville was located in Houston,Texas.  Dan had moved there from Rochester, NY to work for Oceaneering International.  The team was hopeful that Dan would return during the 2010 season with the ROV to obtain video of the shipwreck.   The BP oil leak changed the 2010 shipwreck search plans.   Dan was one of the lead project engineers working over 80 hours a week for 4 months to build the tools BP needed to fix the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.   The team could only wait and imagine what this schooner looked like. 

The Shipwreck

At long last, the underwater remote operated vehicle was deployed during a calm day at the end of the 1^st week in July 2011.  The initial images were that of the stern and the large rudder of the Queen of the Lakes.   Moving upward and on to the deck one of the first things that came into view was the ship’s wheel.   On either side of the stern the davits that had held the yawl extend out and away from the ship.    Behind the wheel lay the remains of the ship’s cabin.   The roof has fallen into the area where the cabin once stood.  Piecesof the roof lay all over the enclosed area making it difficult to see the contents of the cabin.   A round cylindrical shaped object covered with zebra mussels can be seen extending out from the roof debris.   Maybe this object is a toilet, crock, or stove.  The water clarity was good allowing about 75 feet of visibility which provided a view of two of the standing masts with just barely a glimpse of the third (forward) mast.  On the deck there are bundles of what look like rope but most likely are cables that were attached to the masts since ropes to secure the masts were replaced by cables in the late 1800’s.   There are several holds along the deck where the cargo of coal would have been loaded.  Now these holds are filled up to the deck with layers of silt.   Up at the bow the anchors of the schooner are still firmly secured in place.  During her career of over a half century, the Queen of the Lakes would have been one of the larger schooners on Lake Ontario.

Historic Shipwrecks in New York State waters

Historic shipwrecks abandoned and embedded in New York State underwater lands belong to the People of the State of New York and are protected by state and federal law from unauthorized disturbance.

The shipwreck survey in Lake Ontario was funded by a grant from the Great Lakes Historical Society of Vermillion, Ohio.

Lake Ontario Shipwrecks

There are estimated to have been well over 8000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. Many of these ships were wrecked in a harbor or driven on shore where they were pounded to pieces. There are probably about 200
actual shipwrecks that currently rest on the bottom of Lake Ontario.  There have only been a few notable shipwreck discoveries off the southern shore of the lake as the depths often exceed several hundred feet just a few miles from the southern shoreline.  Shipwrecks that are located in these depths are beyond the range of recreational divers and require costly search and support equipment to find them.   The schooner Queen of the Lakes is one of the older commercial vessels to have been found off the southern shore of Lake Ontario that has not been salvaged or wrecked near shore. For additional information, images, and a short video of the shipwreck, visit our website:    www.shipwreckworld.com

Shipwreck Discovery Team

Jim Kennard has been diving and exploring the lakes in the northeast since 1970. He has found over 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, NY Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers over the past 35 years. Using his background as an electrical engineer, he built the side scan sonar system that located many of these shipwrecks in the past.   In 1983 he discovered a unique horse powered ferryboat in Lake
Champlain.  National Geographic featured the ferryboat in their October 1989 issue. Several other of his shipwreck discoveries have been reported in various publications including Skin Diver, Wreck Diver, Inland Seas, and Sea Technology.

Dan Scoville is an experienced cave and technical diver.  He utilizes custom gas mixtures of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen to dive to depths of over 300 feet. In 2005, Dan led the development of an Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle with a team of college seniors from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is currently a project manager and electrical engineer for Oceaneering International and was one of the team that built the tools that fixed the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico for British Petroleum.

Roland ‘Chip’ Stevens is a retired architect and working artist whose watercolors are well known in the Rochester area, many of which have been accepted into national exhibitions. A sailor for many years, Stevens has a love of the sea, as reflected in his seascapes.  A number of his paintings of shipwrecks discovered by the team have appeared in various news stories and publications.  

In May 2008 the team discovered the British warship HMS Ontario, the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Great Lakes, and in late September 2008 they also discovered a rare 200 year old "dagger-board" schooner, both of which received worldwide attention in the news.

Contact info:

 Jim Kennard:   585-223-4500      email:  kennard@rochester.rr.com
 Dan Scoville:   832-423-6318      email:  stealthdive@aol.com
 Roland ‘Chip’ Stevens:  315-589-9351    email: rsteve7@rochester.rr.com

See Image Files below:

Rochester, New York - The wreckage of what is believed to be an original Erie Canal boat has been discovered in the Oswego River south of Fulton, New York.  Shipwreck enthusiasts, Jim Kennard and Roger Pawlowski located the canal boat while searching the Oswego Canal with very high resolution side scan sonar equipment built by a Swedish company, DeepVision.  

The canal boat has sunk deep into the bottom of the Oswego River with less than a foot of its upper structure visible.  The sonar imagery has provided excellent details of the size, shape, and the deck structure of the vessel.  Early canal boats prior to the 1850’s were limited in length to 78 feet as the locks of the original Erie and Oswego Canals were built to only 90 feet.  The size of this canal boat was determined by sonar measurements to be approximately 13½ wide by 75½ in length.  The size of this canal boat is consistent with those being utilized during the period between1830 to 1850, prior to the canal locks being increased in length.  These were shallow boats with a draft of only 3½ feet.

The shape of the canal boat hull shows that it has a rounded bow (bull nose) and a square stern.  There is some evidence of either side rails or a portion of the hull protruding above the river bottom. The tiller appears to be intact and remains at the center of the canal boat stern.   

Attempts to photograph the canal boat wreckage were unsuccessful due to poor visibility caused by heavy rains. Kennard has since consulted with the NYS Department of Historic Preservation and the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, NY to determine the vintage and type of canal boat.  From the sonar imagery it would appear this is probably an Erie Canal line boat. 

Line boats were designed to carry freight but they also carried passengers as well as livestock. Passage on a line boat was cheaper than that of a packet boat which carried only passengers and hand luggage, with no room for gear and supplies.  Travellers on line boats could set up tents and cook on deck. They could also bring their freight and livestock with them.  Line boats were slower, travelling about 60 miles per day, and generally ran only during the daylight hours.  In the early 1830’s half of the boats on the Erie Canal were line boats.

Other canal boats of the late 19^th century have been located in Seneca, Cayuga, and Keuka Lakes by Kennard and others but none of these were similar to that of the wreck in the Oswego River.   It is believed that this is the oldest Erie Canal boat to have been discovered. 

The shipwreck search/survey of the Oswego Canal was conducted this Fall and funded by the Oswego Maritime Foundation.  Historic shipwrecks abandoned and embedded in New York State underwater lands belong to the People of the State of New York and are protected by state and federal law from unauthorized disturbance.

Shipwreck Discovery Team

Jim Kennard has been diving and exploring the lakes in the northeast since 1970. He has found over 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, NY Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers over the past 35 years. In 1983 he discovered a unique horse powered ferryboat in Lake Champlain.  National Geographic featured the ferryboat in their October 1989 issue.  In May 2008 Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville discovered the British warship HMS Ontario, the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Great Lakes, and in late September 2008 a rare 200 year old "dagger-board" schooner. Both discoveries received worldwide attention in the news

Roger Pawlowski has been diving on shipwrecks in the northeast and Florida for the past 10 years.  He is a retired Air Force Reserve pilot and flew missions in Desert Storm.  In 1980 while flying a practice mission over Lake Ontario he witnessed a small aircraft plunge into the lake.  His details of the incident and location helped Kennard locate the aircraft which was several miles from shore and in over 100 feet underwater.  Pawlowski is an electrical engineer and runs his own engineering consultant business.

Contact information:

Jim Kennard            Tel:  585-223-4500 (home)   585-770-3156 (cell)

Roger Pawlowski     Tel:  585-247-5274 (home)   585-507-5655 (cell)

See Image Files below: 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Rochester, New York - A mid 1800's schooner has been discovered in deep water off the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Oak Orchard, New York.  Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville finally located the old schooner after a search effort that took them more than 5 years.

Schooners collide at night during a blinding snow storm  

During the evening of November 22, 1862, the schooner C. Reeve travelling east to Oswego, New York was run into by the schooner Exchange.  The Enchange was headed west for the Welland Canal.  The Reeve had departed Chicago with a cargo of 13,500 bushels of corn destined for Oswego.  The Exchange had cleared the port of Oswego the previous day with a full load of 2,000 barrels of Onondaga salt bound for ports on Lake Erie.  In the early evening hours a blinding snow storm set in with a strong wind coming out of the north.   Visibility was almost nonexistent and neither crew could see ahead of them.  Within a short time the schooner Exchange collided with the Reeve and stove in her starboard side just aft of the foremast.  The accident occurred approximately 3 to 4 miles off the port of Oak Orchard, New York.

 The Exchange had plowed right into the rigging that secured the Reeve's foremast to the starboard side of the ship.  This caused the foremost to lose any support and it immediately toppled over the side of the ship.  The collision also created a large gap in the side of the Reeve's hull allowing water to pour into the schooner. Within a few minutes the Reeve sank out of sight into the depths of Lake Ontario.   The Exchange was not without significant damage too, as she lost her bowsprit which became tangled in the foremast rigging.  She also sustained severe damage to her cutwater, the forward portion of the stem of the vessel which cuts through the water.  Leaking but still afloat the Exchange was able to take on board the crew of the Reeve, then turned about and headed back for the port of Rochester.  The crew of the Reeve only had enough time to save themselves and consequently lost all their personal effects.  A reporter for the Rochester Union and Advertiser describing the condition of the Exchange after returning to port said "She bears the marks of a collision and reminds one of a bully with his nose badly broken."

Schooner C. Reeve built in 1853 at Buffalo New York

The Reeve is a two masted gaff rigged schooner built in 1853 by the firm of J.B. & N. Jones in Buffalo for Christopher Reeve & Brother of Detroit.  In 1855 the Reeve was sold to William Goodenow.  During the nine years that the schooner was operating on the Great Lakes she only sustained a few minor collisions, lost her masts once in 1853, and was driven ashore in a storm at Mackinac Michigan.  In July of 1858 the Reeve made a trans-Atlantic crossing as she sailed from Detroit, Michigan to Liverpool, England with a cargo of black walnut lumber.  In October of that same year the Reeve returned with a full load of crockery.    

The Lucky Discovery

The initial discovery of the schooner was not made by the conventional search methods used before by the team to discover many of Lake Ontario's shipwrecks.  After searching for many hours with sophisticated sonar technology and precise positioning equipment and not finding any potential targets to check out, the shipwreck searchers were in the process of packing up their equipment for the day and took a few minutes to eat before heading back to port.  Meanwhile the boat was being pushed along the lake by a light breeze.  Dan Scoville glanced over at the depth recorder just as the wind was taking their boat for a ride right over the top of a shipwreck.  The position was quickly noted for a return trip.  In August the explorers returned to the wreck site and deployed a remote operated vehicle (ROV) developed by Scoville to do the actual underwater exploration and to try to confirm the identity of the shipwreck that they had discovered by chance.  The ship was lying nearly 400 feet beneath the surface and at a depth beyond the limits (135 feet) for recreational SCUBA divers and for most technical divers utilizing mixed gases.

Exploring the Shipwreck

 In the deep depth where this shipwreck lies there is no natural light to illuminate the ship.  A remote operated vehicle with on board cameras and high intensity lighting was deployed to bring back images of the sunken shipwreck.  The schooner was found sitting upright on the bottom and entirely encrusted with quagga mussels.  The main mast was still standing but the foremast was snapped at its base and lays off to the port side of the ship with only a few feet of the mast resting on the port railing.  It is obvious that this ship sustained significant damage to the starboard side of the hull approximately 35 feet from the bow and near the general location adjacent to where the foremast was located.  There are many booms and spars lying at various angles across the deck of the ship as well as numerous deadeyes and block and tackles.  There are many large pieces of what appear to be thick rope lying about the deck.  Both of the anchors have fallen from the ship and lay half buried in the soft bottom. The hatches of the cargo holds are still closed up tightly.   The cabin is fairly large and stretches completely across one side of the ship rail to the other.  The main boom is lying right across the cabin entrance and on top of the roof.   At the stern of the schooner there is an open area in the cabin where the ship's wheel and steering mechanism are located.  In this area a partially open door from the main cabin can be seen half buried in silt built up over the years. This steering arrangement is quite different from schooners observed before.   On the port side of the stern a long boat is seen resting on the bottom.  Once secured to the ship davits it was pulled down along with the sinking ship.

Shipwreck Detectives

To search for and identify a potential shipwreck, more time is actually spent on land reviewing old newspapers and conferring with shipwreck historians than on the lake searching. Ships that get caught in a storm are very broken up, the nameplate may become lost in the wreckage or the painted name on a ship can disappear over time.  It is very important to do the research prior to conducting a shipwreck search, which can become very expensive, especially when chasing after a ship that may have actually been saved or salvaged later on. Once a ship is found all efforts are made to confirm its name and history.

The schooner that Kennard and Scoville located did not have an observable name painted on the stern of the ship, but other clues were available to identify the vessel.  This shipwreck had two masts and the starboard side of the hull had received extensive damage confirming the fact that it had been in a collision.  The general location of this shipwreck was consistent with the accident report of the collision between the two vessels off Oak Orchard.   Measurements made by a sector scanning sonar mounted on the underwater remote operated vehicle confirmed the dimensions as those of the schooner, with a length of 119 ft and a beam of 26 ft.   A search through a number of shipwreck databases provided only one possible candidate in the same general area of Lake Ontario that had the same measurements and was wrecked by collision.  This was the schooner C. Reeve. 

Lake Ontario Shipwrecks

There are estimated to have been over 5000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. Many of these ships were wrecked in a harbor or were driven on shore where they were pounded to pieces. There are approximately 200 actual shipwrecks that currently remain in the depths of Lake Ontario. There have only been a few notable shipwreck discoveries off the southern shore of the lake as the depths often exceed several hundred feet just a few miles from the southern shoreline. Shipwrecks that are located in these depths are beyond the range of recreational divers and require costly search and support equipment to find them.   The schooner C. Reeve is one of the older commercial vessels to have been found off the southern shore of Lake Ontario that has not been salvaged or wrecked near shore. For additional information, images, and a short video of the shipwreck, visit our website: www.shipwreckworld.com

Shipwreck Discovery Team

Jim Kennard has been diving and exploring the lakes in the northeast since 1970. He found over 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, NY Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers over the past 35 years. Using his background as an electrical engineer, he built the side scan sonar system that located these shipwrecks.   In 1983 he discovered a unique horse powered ferryboat in Lake Champlain.  National Geographic featured the ferryboat in their October 1989 issue.  Several other of his shipwreck discoveries have been reported in various publications including Skin Diver, Wreck Diver, Inland Seas, and Sea Technology.

Dan Scoville is an experienced cave and technical diver. He utilizes custom gas mixtures of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen to dive to depths of over 300 feet. In 2005, Dan led the development of an Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle with a team of college seniors from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is currently a project manager and electrical engineer for Oceaneering International

In May 2008 Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville discovered the British warship HMS Ontario, the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Great Lakes and in late September 2008 a rare 200 year old "dagger-board" schooner both of which received worldwide attention in the news.

Kennard and Scoville will be telling the story of their adventure and presenting the video Discovery of HMS Ontario at the Rochester Museum & Science Center on Wednesday, December 16^th.  For details go to the RMSC website:  http://www.rmsc.org/Experiences/FamilyPrograms/ScienceOnTheEdge/ 

Contact information:

Note:  A short video clip of the shipwrecked schooner C. Reeve was too large (121MB) to store here.   Please contact Jim Kennard for a copy on DVD or it can be sent ftp to you online to your email address 

 200 Year Old "Dagger-Board" Schooner Discovered in Lake Ontario

Rochester, New York -  A rare dagger-board schooner has been discovered in very deep water off the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Oak Orchard, New York.  Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville, shipwreck enthusiasts, located the schooner using deep towed side scan sonar equipment.  Sailing vessels of this type were in use on the lakes for only a short period of time beginning in the very early 1800's.  This ship is the only dagger-board schooner known to have been found in the Great Lakes. 

 The Dagger-Board Schooner

 The dagger-board schooner was typically a shallow draft ship having one or more wood panels that could be extended through the keel to increase its effectiveness while under way in the open water.  The sole purpose of dagger-boards was to prevent the schooner from being pushed sideways when sailing windward or with the wind coming from one side (abeam) of the vessel.  A single dagger-board was a panel of wood perhaps 1 to 2 inches in thickness with a width of 4 to 5 feet surrounded by a narrow watertight enclosure.  The dagger-board would be pushed squarely down though the bottom of the vessel to increase her draught while sailing and hauled up by separate tackles at either end.  The ability to raise the dagger-boards when entering a shallow harbor was a great advantage.  The boat could load and unload personnel and cargo in all sorts of locations that would not otherwise be accessible with a larger sailing craft.  The term "dagger-board" was also referred to as drop-keel, slip-keel, sliding-keel, barn-door, or center-plate.

 Development of the Dagger-Board Sailing Vessel

 The invention of the dagger-board or drop keel is generally credited to British Captain John Schank in 1774, however, the early use of the dagger-board in sailing craft prior to the 1800's can actually be traced back to China and possibly South America.  Captain Schank proposed and then adapted the dagger-board concept for use in the cutter Trial built in Portsmouth England for the British Admiralty in 1790.  This ship turned out to be a great success as the Trial was able to out sail most of the smaller cutters even though she was a much larger vessel.  In the next few years, the British followed up by building a ship-sloop, two classes of gun-brigs, and 16 brigs utilizing the dagger-board concept.  Depending on the ship design, multiple dagger-boards were utilized to compensate for the shifting of the vessel's center of gravity as the sails moved fore-and-aft.  Ten years after the British Admiralty built the Trial further interest in ships with dagger-boards was put on hold due to the problem of making the enclosure for the dagger-boards water tight.  

  Dagger-Board Sailing Vessels on the Great Lakes

As recounted by Captain James Van Cleve in his memoirs, the first vessel on the Great Lakes to utilize dagger-boards was a skiff brought to Oswego from Niagara around 1806.  In September 1813, Major-General James Wilkinson wrote in a letter to the US Secretary of War "....Before I left Sackett's Harbor, I ordered a dozen slip keeled boats to carry 50 men and row 30 oars to be armed with a light cannon in their bow."  References can also be found in the 1813 transport dispatches of Buffalo army officers of the use of slip-keel (dagger-board) sailing vessels.  From 1817 to 1820 sailing vessels on Lake Erie greatly increased in numbers, though not in size.  These ships varied from 18 to 65 tons burden, and most of them utilized dagger-boards.  Each creek, river and port along the coast from Buffalo to the Vermillion River had its representative vessel.  It is thought that by 1819, one or more ship builders in York (Toronto) were producing ships that utilized dagger-boards.  The pivoted center-board was patented in 1811 and during the next several years larger ships would employ this method of extending the functionality of the keel.  By 1820 the dagger-board design gave way to that of the pivoted centerboard.  It is reasonable to assume that many of the early dagger-board schooners, initially military vessels, were later used for the commercial transport of people and goods on both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

 Discovery of the Shipwreck

 The dagger-board schooner was unexpectedly discovered in the fall of 2008 while Kennard and Scoville were conducting a deep water survey in Lake Ontario off Oak Orchard, New York.  On the very last survey run of the season, the faint image of something protruding from the bottom showed up at the very edge of the display screen.  Another run was made to obtain a better image and position of the object.  Two weeks later, when the lake was calm and the winds were light, they returned and deployed a remote operated vehicle (designed and built by Scoville) with lights and multiple cameras to explore the shipwreck. 

 Exploring the Shipwrecked Schooner

 The shipwreck was found upright and in remarkable condition considering that it had plunged over 500 feet to its final resting place on the bottom.  The remote operated vehicle (ROV) landed in the area on the ship where the cabin would have been located.  Only a few posts could be seen that would have held up the cabin structure. This area was devoid of any items such a stove, furniture, or other materials.  A rail wraps around the starboard and port side of this area where the cabin roof would have extended to either side of the ship and would have also served as an upper deck.  At the stern are the remains of the tiller box between two small windows about 20 inches square.  The stern rail (taff-rail) has a scroll work feature that is very artistically pleasing in its design.  Moving ahead toward the bow, the ship's pump came into view on the port side of the deck just forward of the area where the cabin would have been located.  A few feet in front of the former entrance to the cabin is the stub of the main mast that can be seen protruding above the deck.  Just forward of this mast stub is the opening for one of the two ship holds, measuring approximately 5 feet in length by 3 ½ feet wide.  Between this hold and the forward hold appear to be two partitions that are in line with each other.  Each partition was 1 to 2 inches wide by about 4 ½ feet in length, and rises up from the deck 3 ½ feet.  Not until further research was conducted did we come to understand that we were looking at dagger-boards that had been forced up into that position by the ship resting on the bottom of the lake. Next to and on the starboard side of the dagger-boards and a few inches away can be seen a long round object covered with quagga mussels that stretches just beyond the length of the two dagger-boards.  Further viewing of the underwater video showed a rounded notch in the lip of both holds nearest to each dagger-board.  We believe that this object may have been placed over the top of the dagger-boards and secured within the notches of each hold to prevent them from riding up above the deck when in use in open water.  Just beyond the forward hold was the stub of the foremast.  Both the stubs of the main and foremast look as if they had been cut off approximately 1 foot above the deck.  The bowsprit can be seen exiting the deck only a few feet from the foremast and extends for 12 feet past the tip of the bow.  Next to the port side of the shipwreck and adjacent to the forward hold there appears to be a cover like object about the same length as the hold.  It has not yet been clearly determined if this is a cover for a hold or something else.  There were no anchors, winch, block and tackles, or dead-eyes to be found on the shipwreck.  The schooner was built without side rails or enclosures (bulwarks) on either side of the main deck, a characteristic of vessels built during the very early 1800's.  The length of the dagger-board schooner measured 55 feet and has a width (beam) of 15 feet.  These measurements were made by high resolution scanning sonar that was mounted on the ROV.  Shipwreck team artist, Chip Stevens has created a sketch to show what the dagger-board schooner may have looked like based on the video imagery obtained by the remote operated vehicle.

 Origin of the Schooner - Canadian?

The name of the schooner is unknown as there has been no documented account found thus far of the sinking of a vessel of this type in Lake Ontario.  It appears from the video survey of the shipwreck that the dagger-board schooner had been stripped of all useable items such as anchors, iron fittings, cabin with contents, and tiller.  It is highly unlikely that this ship would have been transported many miles out into the middle of the lake to be scuttled.  A possible scenario may be that the dagger-board schooner was in the process of being converted to a barge or other sailing craft by its owners.  Perhaps it broke free from its moorings in the ice or during a violent storm and was carried far out into the lake before it eventually sank.  Considering the ship's location and the typical prevailing north-west winds on Lake Ontario it is very possible that this ship came from the York (Toronto) area in the early 1800's.  The ship eventually sank probably due to a weak section below the starboard stern window which can be seen missing, as shown on the underwater video of the shipwreck.

 Information on Dagger-Board Schooner Requested

 Up to now very little information is known about dagger-board schooners on the Great Lakes.  During the past several months the shipwreck exploration team made inquiries to a number of Great Lakes maritime historians in an attempt to learn more about this uniquely designed schooner.  Each source provided a few pieces of information from their archives that contributed to a greater understanding of this type of ship.  The books of Howard Chapelle on American sailing ships, published between 1935 to the 1960's give brief mention of the dagger-board sailing vessels utilized by the British Admiralty, US Navy, and for commercial transport.  We believe that much more can be learned about dagger-board schooners.  The discoverers are requesting that anyone with knowledge or drawings of dagger-board sailing vessels contact them though their website:  www.shipwreckworld.com 

 Rare Shipwreck Discoveries in Lake Ontario

The dagger-board schooner is one of the older ships discovered in Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes.  In May 2008, Kennard and Scoville also located another very significant shipwreck, the British warship HMS Ontario which was lost in 1780.  The Ontario is the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Great Lakes and the only British warship of this period still in existence in the world.  There are estimated to have been over 4700 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes with approximately 550 occurring on Lake Ontario.  Many of these ships were wrecked in a harbor or were driven on-shore where they were pounded to pieces.  Approximately 230 ships have actually been lost in the lake and there have only been a few notable shipwreck discoveries off the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The lake depths often exceed several hundred feet just a few miles out from the southern shoreline.  Shipwrecks that are located in these depths are beyond the range of recreational divers and require costly search and support ship equipment to find them

 Shipwreck Discovery Team

 Jim Kennard has been diving and exploring the lakes in the northeast since 1970. He found over 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, NY Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers over the past 35 years. Using his background as an electrical engineer, he built the side scan sonar system that located these shipwrecks. In 1983 he discovered a unique horse powered ferryboat in Lake Champlain.  National Geographic featured the ferryboat in their October 1989 issue.  Several other of his shipwreck discoveries have been reported in various publications including Skin Diver, Inland Seas, Wreck Diver, and Sea Technology.

 Dan Scoville is an experienced cave and "technical" diver who utilizes custom gas mixtures of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen to dive to depths of over 300 feet. In 2005, Dan led the development of an Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle with a team of college seniors from the Rochester Institute of Technology.  Since then he has used his ROV to explore shipwrecks in Lake Ontario and to locate the bodies of three hunters from a lost Seabee Republic aircraft in Lac Simon, Quebec.  He was the project manager and electrical engineer for the Remote Operated Vehicle product line at HydroAcoustics Inc and has just recently joined an oil services company outside of New York State.

Roland (Chip) Stevens is a retired architect and working artist whose artwork is well known in the Rochester area and has been accepted into numerous national exhibitions.  A sailor for many years, Stevens has a love of the sea, as reflected in his seascape watercolor paintings.  He has created paintings of the some of the recently discovered Lake Ontario shipwrecks that have appeared in various news stories and national publications.

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Rochester, New York – The HMS Ontario, a British warship built in 1780 has been discovered in deep water off the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville located the ship utilizing sophisticated side scanning sonar and an underwater remote operated vehicle. The HMS Ontario is the oldest confirmed shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship to have ever been found in the Great Lakes.  

HMS Ontario Founders

In the early evening hours of October 31, 1780, the British sloop of war HMS Ontario sank with over 120 men, women, children and prisoners on board during a sudden and violent gale. The Ontario had departed earlier in the day from Fort Niagara, near the western end of Lake Ontario, for Oswego and then on to Fort Haldimand located on Carleton Island in the St. Lawrence River. The following day some of the Ontario’s boats, hatchway gratings, binnacle, compasses and several hats and blankets drifted ashore in the area that is known today as Golden Hill State Park, located 30 miles east of Fort Niagara in New York State. Following the reported loss of the Ontario, the British conducted a wide search of the area on land and water. A few days later only the ship’s sails were found adrift in the lake. In late July 1781, six bodies from the Ontario were found approximately 12 miles east of the Niagara River near Wilson, NY. This was the extent of the items ever found from the ship until its recent discovery.

Built as a Sloop-of-War

In October 1779, the work of building a new "brig sloop" began at the dockyard on Carleton Island. Six months later construction of this vessel was nearly completed and on May 10, 1780 it was launched and named HMS Ontario. The brig sloop was 80 feet long with a 25 foot beam and contained two masts with a length of over 80 feet. She had a "burthen weight" (tonnage capacity) of over 226 tons and carried 22 cannon on board. Throughout the summer of 1780 the Ontario transported troops, stores, and civilian merchandise around and across Lake Ontario, stopping at Niagara and Carleton Island frequently, in addition to regular visits to Oswego. During this period it never came under attack from the American forces. In late September 1780, the Ontario sailed from Carleton Island fully loaded with troops, Mohawk, Seneca, and Onondaga scouts, canoes, and supplies for Fort Niagara. The return trip back would be the last and a most fatal voyage.

Search for the HMS Ontario

The search for the Ontario began 35 years ago for Jim Kennard, however after several frustrating years of searching, he abandoned the quest for this ship. Six years ago he teamed up with Dan Scoville to search for shipwrecks off the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Since then the shipwreck explorers have been successful in locating seven ships in the lake. Obtaining good research regarding the sinking of a shipwreck is critical in determining its location. This time Kennard obtained documents from both the British and Canadian archives relating to the ship disaster before setting out with Scoville to find the HMS Ontario. Even with the best information available, it still took them 3 years and a search area that covered over 200 square miles of the lake before they found the ship.

The Discovery

The discovery of the HMS Ontario was made in early June utilizing sophisticated side scan sonar technology. The sonar imagery clearly shows a large sailing ship partially resting on one side, with two masts reaching up more than 70 feet above the lake bottom. The remains of two crow’s nests on each mast provided good confirmation that the sunken ship would be the brig-sloop Ontario. The ship was found between Niagara and Rochester, NY in an area of the lake where the depth extends to more than 500 feet. Due to the depth limitations for diving on this shipwreck, an underwater remote operated vehicle with deep dive capability, developed by Scoville, was utilized to explore and confirm the identity of the ship. Kennard and Scoville have since notified the New York State Office of Historic Preservation of their discovery of the HMS Ontario.

Exploring the Shipwreck

In the deep depth where the Ontario lies there is no visible light to illuminate the ship. A remote operated vehicle with on-board cameras and high intensity lighting was deployed to bring back images of the sunken shipwreck. The schooner was found sitting upright on the bottom leaning over to one side. The masts are still in place rising up over 70 feet from the bottom. A portion of the bowsprit remains and just below it there is a beautifully carved scroll bow stem. Two of the cannons are visible in the bow area but they have come loose from their original positions. Two of the large anchors are clearly visible. One anchor is still secure in its original position and the other has dropped off to the side of the ship. The most characteristic feature of this ship are the quarter galleries that are located on either side of the stern area of the HMS Ontario. A quarter gallery is a kind of balcony with windows that are typically placed on the sides of the stern-castle, a high, tower-like structure at the back of a ship that housed the officers’ quarters. Both quarter galleries are there with some of the window glass still in place. Under the ship’s tiller rests one of the small cannons that had been mounted on the stern deck of the ship. A few deadeyes and pulley blocks can be seen lying about in the wreckage. Many of the belaying pins that were used to secure lines are still located on the rails of the ship. All of the hatch covers and skylights are gone leaving a slight opening to the deck below, however, the ROV was not able to penetrate into the lower deck due to the silt that has been deposited over the years.

Tales of Treasure and the Holy Grail 

The HMS Ontario is considered to be one of the few "Holy Grail" shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. For years many divers and shipwreck hunters have searched the lake for the HMS Ontario without success. Authors of shipwreck books speculated and then wrote tales of payroll treasure that might be on board the Ontario. This was far from the actual truth as any payroll for the troops would have been coming from Carleton Island, not from Fort Niagara. The book "Legend of the Lake" written by author Arthur Britton Smith in 1997 chronicles the history of the HMS Ontario and provides an excellent treatise of the historical conditions between the British and the Americans during this period of time.

War Grave Site

The shipwreck of the HMS Ontario is still considered to be British Admiralty property. The official record of the number of people on board the Ontario when she sank included: 74 military personnel, 9 women and children, 4 Indians, and 1 civilian. There were no prisoners-of-war officially listed by the British, however, private correspondence by an individual living at Fort Niagara indicated that there may have been a total of 120 people on board the ship including about 30 American prisoners. The shipwreck site of the Ontario is considered to be a British war grave and therefore should remain forever undisturbed.

Documenting the Shipwreck

Multiple cameras located on the underwater remote operated vehicle were utilized to document the condition of the ship providing over 80 minutes of color and black & white video imagery. There has been sufficient video documentation obtained so that it will never be necessary to return to the shipwreck site again. Kennard and Scoville plan to contact several TV production groups that may be interested in developing an historic program about the HMS Ontario. In addition, they are considering the possibility of hosting a local dinner to premiere the showing of this historic shipwreck discovery.

Shipwreck Detectives 

To search for and identify a potential shipwreck, more time is actually spent on land going though old newspapers on microfilm and conferring with shipwreck historians than on the lake searching. Ships that get caught in a storm become very broken up, the nameplate may become lost in the wreckage or the painted name on a ship can disappear over time. It is very important to do the research prior to conducting an expensive shipwreck search, especially when a ship may have actually been saved or salvaged later on. Once a ship is found, all efforts are made to confirm its name and history.

Lake Ontario Shipwrecks

There are estimated to have been over 4700 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes with approximately 500 occurring on Lake Ontario. Many of these ships were wrecked in a harbor or were driven on-shore where they were pounded to pieces. Probably fewer than 200 ships have actually been lost in the lake and there have only been a few notable shipwreck discoveries off the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Because lake depths often exceed several hundred feet just a few miles out from the southern shoreline, shipwrecks that are located in these depths are beyond the range of recreational divers and require costly search and support ship equipment to find them. For additional information, images, and to view a short video of the shipwreck of the HMS Ontario, visit our website: www.shipwreckworld.com

Shipwreck Discovery Team

Jim Kennard has been diving and exploring the lakes in the northeast since 1970. He found over 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, NY Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers over the past 35 years. Using his background as an electrical engineer, he built the side scan sonar system that located these shipwrecks. In 1983 he discovered a unique horse powered ferryboat in Lake Champlain. National Geographic featured the ferryboat in their October 1989 issue. Several other of his shipwreck discoveries have been reported in various publications including Skin Diver, Inland Seas, and Sea Technology.

Dan Scoville is an experienced cave and "technical" diver who utilizes custom gas mixtures of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen to dive to depths of over 300 feet. In 2005, Dan led the development of an Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle with a team of college seniors from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Since then he has used his ROV to explore shipwrecks in Lake Ontario and to locate the bodies of three hunters from a lost Seabee Republic aircraft in Lac Simon, Quebec. He is currently the project manager and electrical engineer for the Remote Operated Vehicle product line at HydroAcoustics Inc.

Shipwreck Team Artist

Roland (Chip) Stevens is a retired architect and working artist whose artwork is well known in the Rochester area and has been accepted into numerous national exhibitions. A sailor for many years, Stevens has a love of the sea, as reflected in his seascape watercolor paintings. He has created paintings of the some of the recently discovered Lake Ontario shipwrecks that have appeared in various news stories and publications.

Contact information:

06-10-2008