The oldest confirmed commercial sailing ship to wreck in the Great Lakes, a Canadian sloop lost more than 200 years ago, has been discovered in Lake Ontario by a team of shipwreck explorers.
The 18th century sloop Washington, lost with all hands in a 1803 storm, was discovered in June off Oswego, N.Y. by wreck sleuths Jim Kennard, Roger Pawlowski and Roland Stevens using high resolution side scan sonar.
The ship, also known as Lady Washington, was en route from Kingston, Ontario to its home port of Niagara, Ontario when it sank.
According to Kennard, the Washington is the oldest fully intact commercial sailing vessel to have been lost and found in the Great Lakes. It was the first sloop built on Lake Erie and the first to ship sail on both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Sloops only existed for a short time on the Great Lakes before they were replaced by schooners, which had more masts and were more efficient to sail.
The Washington was carrying local merchants and was heavily loaded with about $20,000 worth of general goods and groceries from East India when it sank.
In 1798, the 36-ton ship was launched in Erie, Penn. for the Pennsylvania Population Co., an organization developing local land. In 1801, the sloop was sold to a merchant group from Queenston, Ontario, and shortly thereafter portaged around Niagara Falls on rollers by oxen and launched in Lake Ontario.
On Nov. 6, 1803, the Washington left Kingston and sailed into oblivion. Afterwards, wreckage began to wash ashore near Oswego. At least three crew members and two merchants were on board. All died.
Previously, there were no drawings or models of the sl
Kennard, Pawlowski and Stevens found the sloop in late June, but it took several more weeks before weather allowed the team to confirm the wreck identity using a remotely operated vehicle. The Washington is sitting upright and the mast is still standing. Rear damage indicates the ship sank stern-first.
Previously, there were no drawings or models of the sloop Washington for archaeologists to study. Now, imagery and measurements can aid understanding of 18th century sailing vessel design, the discoverers said.
The team have many shipwreck finds to their credit. Kennard, a member of the Explorer's Club, has been at it since 1970, with more than 200 wreck discoveries in the Great Lakes, Finger Lakes and the Ohio River to his name.
Last fall, the team found the propeller steamer Bay State, which foundered in a Lake Ontario storm in 1862. This summer, the team found the Canadian schooner Royal Albert near Fair Haven, New York.
Kennard's biggest find was in 2008, when he and fellow wreck hunter Dan Scoville discovered the 235-year-old British warship HMS Ontario, the oldest shipwreck ever discovered in the Great Lakes. (www.mlive.com)
