Schooner A. E. Vickery

August 17, 1889, the three-masted wooden schoonerA. E. Vickery struck the shoal above Rock Island Lighthouse while entering the AmericanNarrows with cargo of 21,000 bushels of corn destined for Wiser’s Distillery at Prescott, Ontario. She was launched July 1861 at Three Mile Bay, N.Y. as the J.B. Penfield and renamed the A. E. Vickery on February 25th, 1884. She was about 130 feet long by 26 feet wide and had a depth of hold of 11 feet

Side scan of the A.E. Vickery

Vickery's bow and hawse pipe

Vickery's windless and tow bit

Vickery's main deck

Vickery port hull

Dive the Islander, Clayton Diving Club, June 16th, 10 AM.

Composite photo of the wreck of the Islander, Alex Bay, NY.

Steam Barge Arizona

South of Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada across from Cape Vincent, NY
St. Lawrence River.

GPS: 44° 7.37N, 76° 23.018W

History:

In 1922 the wooden propeller Arizona was the oldest steam barge on the Great Lakes. Launched in 1868, she had been rebuilt several times and was in good repair when she stopped at Cape Vincent on December 6th, 1922. She was on a return trip from Brockville, Ontario and heading to Oswego, NY. On the morning of December 7th, she caught fire at the Cape Vincent Break Wall. The Arizona was 188 feet long by 33 feet in beam. The raging fire onboard prevented her from being towed into deep water and she sunk at her moorings.  In 1923 the hull of the Arizona was raised from the break wall and fitted with pontoons so it could be moved to a location outside the navigation channels. It was then sunk using 200 pounds of dynamite. (From "Dive the Thousand Islands")

 

Photos: Dennis McCarthy 2012

Prop

Hull

Boilers

Diver and prop

Windless

Bow area

Google has a five-year project to map the entire ocean floor using an unmanned seagoing sensor

In the longer term, Google has a five-year project to map the entire ocean floor using an unmanned seagoing sensor, whose accuracy -- within "a few centimers" might discover the resting places of top-secret spy satellites and other sunken wreckage national security authorities had thought was hidden forever, potentially triggering a "treasure hunt" by foreign powers, Jones warned. "ONR [Office of Naval Research] had done research on this but they had run out of funding," Jones said. So Google tracked down 17 people who had worked on the project before their contracts were cancelled, hired them, and has restarted the initiative itself. "The Navy's tested it, it works great; [but] they got too poor. They just couldn't do it," said Jones, himself the proud son of a Navy sailor. "That's just not right."
http://defense.aol.com/2012/05/17/google-satellites-can-track-every-ship-at-sea-including-us-na/

St. Louis wreck, Cape Vincent, NY

Wreck of the St. Louis, Cape Vincent, NY         44° 8.010'N, 76° 19.240'W

The St. Lousis, 1864

The St. Louis was built in 1864 by Peck & Masters in Cleveland Ohio.  She was originally configured with 2 decks, one mast and listed to have a single screw propeller.  From 1864 to 1906 she was used in commerce on the Great Lakes and was owned by several different companies. Her owner in 1906, International Paper Company of Niagara Falls, rebuilt her at Tonawanda, N.Y. as a single mast tow barge of 588 tons. Her single cylinder steam engine, boiler and propeller were removed at that time. Marine record lists her as being stranded at Cape Vincent on February 18th, 1914. Her documents were surrendered and listed her as a total loss. On August 19th, 1922 it was noted in the local newspaper that the fire department responded to a fire on the St. Louis.   (From "Dive the Thousand Islands")