While in search of the Rapid City—a schooner that was shipwrecked in 1917—divers instead discovered a much older vessel that could potentially predate the century-old wreck by 50 years.
The discovery joins the more than 6,000 ships that are estimated to have met their watery graves while traversing the Great Lakes, some of which date back to the 17th century. Thanks to the Great Lakes’ fresh and frigid waters, wrecks often remain well-preserved over the centuries, offering a vivid glimpse into the region’s rich maritime history.
Heison Chak, the president of the Ontario Underwater Council and the lead diver on the team that discovered the wreck, first got wind about the presence of a vessel from Trent University archaeology professor, James Conolly, back in 2017. The ship appeared on a lake bed survey being carried out in order to lay a 58-kilometre fibre optic cable under Lake Ontario from Toronto to Buffalo.
Based on the shape of the wreck picked up by the 2017 survey and by analyzing historical shipping records, it was guessed that ship was the Rapid City, which was built in 1884 and likely met its demise during a storm on Lake Ontario just over a century ago. But upon discovering the wreck and further examining its characteristics, the team realized they had uncovered a ship that was likely built between the 1830s and 1850s.
Canada’s most famous shipwrecks
One thing that tipped them off to its age? Despite the wreck being in surprisingly good condition, it didn’t have any rigging.
“The only thing that was missing was all the rigging. So, we believe the ship had rope rigging, because rope decays over time,” says Chak. “Cable rigging, which takes longer to decay, didn’t come into the picture until after 1850, which suggests that it cannot be the Rapid City.”
To get a clearer idea of the ship’s true age, Chak says a larger investigation needs to be done, including more historical research, 3D imaging, and dimension surveying to calculate the ship’s tonnage for comparison with specs recorded in shipping logs.
“Tonnage will tell us what boat this might be, or rather, what boat this may not be,” he explains. “If we have six or seven possible targets, and you know a couple of them were ‘X’ tonnage, but we have determined the ship has ‘Y’ tonnage, then we can isolate our target using elimination.”
Chak, who has also discovered two shipwrecks in the St. Lawrence River and has been diving for more than 23 years, says they have the advantage of the mystery ship being “very well preserved.”
“This one is deeper—much, much deeper. And it is in much better shape than the other two that I have found,” he says. “With the other two wrecks, we knew what one of them was, but this one in Toronto? We have no clue, and that’s what makes it so exciting.”
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