Map location needs to be updated
Sidewheeler that is in the Amherst Island graveyard. Sidewheels in decent shape, parts of wreck still in OK shape. Good dive.
From
http://www.divercity.on.ca/wrecks.htm In the fall of 1989 a new discovery in this area proved to be one of the most
historic of the early Canadian
steamboats, the iron hulled side-wheeler Cornwall. The
following is an article written for The Kingston Whig
Standard by One of the
people who located the wreck. Diver and marine historian:
Rick Neilson
Launched in
Montreal in 1854 as the Kingston, she was one of the finest Canadian steamboats
of her day on the
Upper St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. Indeed, when the
Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) toured Canada in 1860,
she was chosen to be his ’floating
palace.’ Stained glass windows, pianos, and luxurious carpeting comprised part
of
her decor. In
1872 she was gutted by fire while off Grenadier Island in the St. Lawrence
River. Rebuilt as the
Bavarian, she burned a second time in the fall of 1873.
The iron hull, rebuilt yet again, at Power’s shipyard at
Kingston, was this time christened
the Algerian. Under this name she served in the Royal Mail Line for the
Richelieu
and
Ontario Navigation Company until the turn of the century, running between
Toronto and Montreal. Renamed the
Cornwall in 1905 she gradually assumed a stand-by role,
filling in when one of her newer, faster line mates had a
breakdown.
Near the end
of 1911 she was purchased by the Calvin Company of Garden Island, opposite
Kingston. In their hands
she underwent a remarkable transformation. The Calvin’s
weren’t interested in passengers, their business since the
1830’s had been the movement of
lumber and ship building, with a towing and wrecking business on the side.
They
removed much
of the upper works and added salvage equipment and a derrick for ’lightening’
the cargo of stranded
vessels. After two highly remunerative seasons the
Cornwall was sold to the Donnelly Salvage and Wrecking
Company, who used her for many more
years as a wrecker. As late as 1928 they still considered her the flagship
of
their fleet.
With her 40 ton derrick, clamshell outfit, 12 inch rotary steam pumps, diving
equipment, air compressor
lifting jacks, wrecking hawsers, syphons, steam
connections and steel hose, she was well equipped to fulfill her role of
rescuing vessels in
trouble.
In the winter of 1928, the Donnelly Salvage & Wrecking Co. was one of
several Great Lakes salvage outfits
purchased and combined to form Sin Mac Lines,
later Sincennes-McNaughton Tugs Ltd.
Shortly
thereafter her owners decided that the Cornwall had finally outlived her
usefulness. Her iron hull was tired
after 75 years of continuous use. The late Vic Ruttle of
Portsmouth, an old Donnelly hand, described her last voyage.
About 1930, just before Christmas,
they towed her out in a snow storm. Her engine had been removed but her
boilers,
paddle-wheels and cabins were intact. Not being anxious to hang around, the crew
hurried her on her way by the
generous use of dynamite. He wasn’t sure of her exact
location but thought she was somewhere near Amherst Island.
When found
she was pretty much as Mr. Ruttle described her. Sitting upright on the bottom
in 70 feet of water, the
176 foot long iron hull is split open in several places,
either from the dynamite or impact with the bottom. The engine
is missing from between the large
a-frame, but the boilers are still in place, sticking some 20 feet off the
bottom. The
ten
bladed feathering paddle wheels, 20 feet in diameter, are intact. The cabins are
all gone but a great deal of
wood-work lies on the bottom around the outside of the
hull. Scattered throughout the wreckage are other items of
interest; wooden barrels, tools,
steam pipes, a bed, a ladder. At the bow a large piece of fore deck still has
the
windlass in place; a small engine and
port-holes may also be seen here.
The sandy
bottom and relatively shallow depth ensure that there is plenty of light;
visibility during the summer is
often in the 15-20 foot range. The lack of silt inside the
hull allows divers to examine the construction methods used
on what is only the fourth
commercial iron vessel on the Great Lakes. A mooring was installed in the fall
by Preserve
Our Wrecks, Kingston to help protect this
important piece of marine heritage.
The wooden
hull of the Comet, built in 1848, and the iron hull of the Cornwall, built in
1854, rest on the bottom within
two miles of each other. Where else in the Great
Lakes can divers explore two side wheelers in one day?