A Watery Graveyard

Story by Christena Rulli

The serene water captures the eyes of tourists for its breathtaking natural beauty, yet the lake maintains an aura of mystery. Many speculate about the monster that lives in the 121-mile long waters, while others search below, documenting and unearthing shipwrecks from the commercial age. Using marine technology, a dimensional map was presented on July 7, 2005, at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, showcasing the lake’s underwater terrain and also discovering an additional 70 unknown ships.

The research involved the assistance of two geologists: Patricia and Thomas Manley, from the college and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont. For nearly 10 years, ship preservation below the surface has been a priority due to the existence of zebra mussels. Soft-bodied and shielded with a striped shell, these non-native creatures were discovered in Lake Champlain’s waters in 1993. Through rapid growth and reproduction, these mussels have become a hindrance to studying shipwrecks for multiple reasons. Zebra mussel colonies like to settle on the sunken boat surfaces, obscuring the view for divers, creating additional weight, and eating away iron, which holds most shipwrecks together. Without the iron, they would collapse.

In 1996, the Lake Champlain Basin Program authorized the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum to start doing surveys to find, note, and preserve the vessels hidden below the vast lake. In the beginning, the surveys were done in the northern portion of the lake, only to switch to the south. Now, the team is focusing back on the northern part. According to Arthur B. Cohn, Managing Director of the Maritime Research Institute, there are approximately 300 wrecks in Champlain waters. Using side-scan sonar, which detects large items on the sea floor by sending pulses underwater, the survey team searches different areas of the lake averaging 40 miles in each summer season. Only one more season is left before the entire lake survey will be finished.

"Finding shipwrecks is the easiest part of the job," states Cohn. "It is what happens afterwards that can be tough."

According to Cohn, the job is a two face operation. The sonar imaging scans the area of the lake assigned for that particular season. When a wreck is found, it is assigned a number, and the scanning continues. After the sonar is completed, Cohn and his crew begin to examine each shipwreck found in that designated spot, using a remote operated vehicle. They are eventually studied for identification, artifacts, historical meaning, and the possibility of being part of the underwater preserves, where recreational divers have the opportunity to view them.

Courtesy of the Lake Champlain Maritime Research Institute.

The qualifications of a wreck to be part of the underwater preserves is based upon several qualifications. These include its location, water depth, safety, and how archaelogically sensitive the craft is. A recent edition to the preserves is Sloop Island Canal Boat, which was found in a 1998 survey. According to Cohn, this finding still has its cargo intact.

"The Sloop Island Canal Boat is an example of a true shipwreck. The reason is because it sank in unplanned circumstances," states Cohn.

Another boat included in the reserves is the canal schooner O. J. Walker. Found close to Burlington in 1983, this boat ended its life above on May 11, 1895. Loaded with bricks and tile, the structure sprung a leak and sank. An excerpt from the the Essex County Reporter, dated Thursday, May 16, 1895, states:

“The severe wind storm which visited this section on Saturday made it extremely hazardous for small craft on the lake. No reports of fatalities have been received. Boatmen no doubt took warning by the blackness of the western sky, which presaged the coming of a storm of more than usual severity, and sought a place of safety before the storm struck. Those who were on shore in position to see the storm swept lake, uninfluenced by considerations of personal security, pronounce the scene magnificent in its wildness, and that old Champlain is seldom disturbed as it was then. Considerations of an entirely different nature occupied the minds of those who were out in boats and subject to the violence of the elements.”

The craft's passengers were able to escape while the Walker fell into the deep blue abyss, its resting place for over a century.

"Found in 1979, the tragic sinking resulted from an unattended, lit candle. With flames sweeping through the ship, it burned down to the waterline, falling beneath Lake Champlain’s waves."

Swallowed in 1819, the Phoenix was a wooden steamboat whose famous passengers on deck include President James Monroe in 1817 and the remains of General Montgomery. Found in 1979, the tragic sinking resulted from an unattended, lit candle. With flames sweeping through the ship, it burned down to the waterline, falling beneath Lake Champlain’s waves. Six people left on board fell into icy waters, freezing to death. An article published in the Plattsburgh Republican on September 11, 1819, states:

"[The Boat] took fire at almost two o'clock in the morning of the 5th instant, a few miles north of Colchester point, between Burlington and Plattsburgh. Before the fire was discovered and the passengers awakened, it had made such progress as to forbid all hope of extinguishing it. The fire burst forth and spread with such astonishing rapidity, adding to the consternation and confusion attendant on such an event, that many of the passengers came off without their clothes."

While some are open for the public, other sites are still shut off while more processing is completed. One such boat is Troy, found in a 1999 sonar survey. An example of an early sailing boat, this wreck disappeared in November 1825 from Westport, New York. Powerful winds engulfed the ship, and possibly shifted the iron ore cargo. Either way, Troy, along with its entire crew, entered the lake’s underworld.

The other major discovery made by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in 1997 is Benedict Arnold’s gunboat, the Spitfire. Sunk by Schuyler’s island, this gondola was part of Arnold’s fleet in the Battle of Valcour, which was fought against the British over control of the Lake Champlain waterway. Both sides battled for 5 hours until darkness. The British then set up a blockade, which Arnold’s fleet snuck through. Eventually another skirmish occurred, and Arnold eventually destroyed his and four other gunboats to prevent capture. Spitfire was the missing piece in knowing the location of the entire fleet under water.

In the past, Lake Champlain was a major commercial highway for transportation and the expanding array of shipwrecks reinforces this. Under the constant rolling currents lies steadfast structures of a time long gone. These ships are still surviving, and still teaching us about the area’s historic past.

Have you explored any of Lake Champlain's shipwrecks? Let us know!

Exploration for Divers

The Underwater preserves are not only limited to Lake Champlain. Three sites are open to divers in Lake George called The Sunken Fleet, The Forward, and Land Tortoise.

The Land Tortoise, a warship built in 1758, was sunk by the British.

The Sunken Fleet is a collection of seven warships purposely submerged to prevent capture during the French and Indian War.

The Forward is a gas operated wooden boat from 1906. This area was transformed in 1998 into an underwater classroom. Trails were established for divers with several stations including a zebra mussel exhibit, a simulated archaeology site, and the actual shipwreck site.

For more information on the shipwrecks located in Lake George and Lake Champlain check out the Lake Champlain Basin program and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.