Posted on 06/14/2008 8:45:35 PM PDT by PotatoHeadMick
A British warship which sank during the American War of Independence has been found in remarkable condition at the bottom of Lake Ontario.
The HMS Ontario had long been regarded as one of the "Holy Grail" shipwrecks and is the oldest shipwreck and only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes.
The 22-gunship was lost with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard during a gale in 1780.
It was found by shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville using side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible
Historian Arthur Britton Smith, whose book The Legend of the Lake chronicles the history of the HMS Ontario, said: "To have a Revolutionary War vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable. It's an archaeological miracle."
The 80ft sloop of war was found to have been astonishingly well-preserved by the cold, deep waters of the lake.
Kennard and Scoville said they regard it as a war grave and have no plans to raise it or remove any of its artifacts. They said the ship is still considered the property of the British Admiralty.
Although the vessel sits in an area where the water is up to 500ft deep and cannot be reached by anyone but the most experienced divers, Kennard and Scoville refused to give its exact location in a bid to deter scavengers, saying only that it was found off the southern shore.
The sloop was discovered resting partially on its side, with two masts extending more than 70 feet above the lake bottom.
Two crow's nests on each mast - a rare feature - helped identify the ship, as did the carved scroll bow stem. The explorers also found two cannons, two anchors and the ship's bell. The quarter galleries on either side of the stern, which housed the officers' quarters, were beautifully preserved.
Scoville said: "Usually when ships go down in big storms, they get beat up quite a bit. They don't sink nice and square. This went down in a huge storm, and it still managed to stay intact. There are even two windows that aren't broken. Just going down, the pressure difference, can break the windows. It's a beautiful ship."
Smith, who was shown underwater video of the find, said: "If it wasn't for the zebra mussels, she looks like she only sunk last week."
The dark, cold freshwater of Lake Ontario acts as a perfect preservative, Smith said. There is no light and no oxygen at that depth to aid decomposition, and little marine life to feed on the wood.
HMS Ontario went down on October 31, 1780, with a garrison of 60 British soldiers, a crew of about 40, mostly Canadians, and possibly about 30 American war prisoners.
The warship had been launched only five months earlier and was used to ferry troops and supplies along the border of New York state. Although it was the biggest British ship on the Great Lakes at the time, it never saw battle, Smith said.
After the ship disappeared, the British conducted a sweeping search but tried to keep the sinking secret from General George Washington's troops because of the blow to British defences and morale.
Hatchway gratings, the binnacle, compasses and several hats and blankets drifted ashore the next day. A few days later the ship's sails were found adrift in the lake. In 1781, six bodies from the Ontario were found near Wilson, New York.
But for the next two centuries, there were no further traces of the ship.
Explorers had been searching for the Ontario for decades, and there have been numerous false finds over the years, said Eric Bloomquist, interpretative programmes manager at Old Fort Niagara.
Kennard, an electrical engineer who has been diving for nearly 40 years and has found more than 200 wrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, the Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, began searching for the Ontario 35 years ago, but quit after several frustrating and fruitless years.
He teamed up with Scoville, a diver who developed the remote-controlled submersible with students from the Rochester Institute of Technology, six years ago. The pair have since found seven ships in the lake.
Over the years, Kennard obtained documents from British and Canadian archives on the Ontario, including the ship's design plans. Even then, it took the pair three years of searching more than 200 square miles before they found the vessel earlier this month.
After locating the wreck with the sonar, the explorers used the submersible to confirm their find, chronicling their discovery with more than 80 minutes of underwater video.
Carrie Sowden, archaeological director of the Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Centre of the Great Lakes Historical Society in Vermillion, Ohio, said: "Certainly it is one of the earliest discovered shipwrecks, if not the earliest. And if it's in the condition they say, it's quite significant."
Kennard said he and his partner have gathered so much video evidence that it will not be necessary to return to the site. He added that they hope to make a documentary about the discovery.
There are an estimated 4,700 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, including about 500 in Lake Ontario alone.
For additional discussion:
Sunken British Warship From American Revolution Found in Lake Ontario
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030966/posts
Explorers find 1780 British warship in Lake Ontario
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2030843/posts
How do they figure that? Spoils of war and all. Not to rub it in but the British lost.
"Seneca, Ontario, and Haldimand at the Carleton Island Anchorage in May 1780. Ontario is setting sail for Niagara. Painting by Peter Rindlisbacher." Fort Haldimand at left. Ahead is Schank Harbour now known as the North Bay at Carleton Island.
International Law. A war ship is considered Sovereign Territory even when sunken.
It is not a spoil of war because we did not capture it in battle.
International Law. A war ship is considered Sovereign Territory even when sunken.
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True. But what do we do about the 30 American prisoners of war onboard?
Really? So if we had been fortunate enough to find a 'Red October' type sub sunk in our waters we wouldn't mine it for intel?
But considering that we have not attempted the recovery Americans of much more recent wrecks or sunken war ships I think it would be rather silly.
Ever hear of the Glomar Exploer ?
But considering that we have not attempted the recovery Americans of much more recent wrecks or sunken war ships I think it would be rather silly.
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I dont think it’s “silly”, but considering that even the NoKor’s and the Vietnamese return our soldiers remains, and we were able to properly bury the Civil War soldiers (North and South)who were in the first known submarines after salvaging them, it’s the proper way.
Logistically speaking, it is ridiculous I agree. We value our soldiers so much I think the United States is the only country that has the only military office which deals with soldiers remains being returned back to their homeland.
The Hunley was first and foremost an archeological undertaking. Having found the sailor’s remains the proper thing to do was to give the brave men a proper burial with honors.
That being said, considering the importance of the find I would not be surprised if there were soon proposals floated for a joint project between US and British war museums to recover the wreck.
No I hadn’t heard of it. Apparently its sovereignty wasn’t respected.
Ronaldus Magnus was wise enough to realize that we were at war (Cold War) and that the intelligence that could be gathered was worth the risk of breaking international law.
The reclusive Howard Hughes was nearly incapacitated with his germ phobia at the time. But was still a patriot enough that he met personally with the CIA officials who wanted his cooperation in the project to recover the sub.
Truly an amazing but true story. Sad that we don’t have more successes like that.
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