In 2011, shipwreck enthusiasts, using an underwater remote-operated vehicle camera, discovered the sunken schooner Queen of the Lakes on the bottom of the southern shore of Lake Ontario, off Sodus Point. Experts said the 1800s-era, Canadian-built vessel was en route to Kingston, Ontario, on Nov. 28, 1906, carrying 480 tons of coal, when it sprang a massive leak during a windstorm.
The crew managed to survive.
In 2006, side-scanning sonar equipment was used to find the 152-year-old, Canadian-built schooner Orcadian in the deep waters of the southern shore of Lake Ontario, near Sodus Point. In the early-morning hours on May 8, 1858 the Orcadian was traveling from Oswego when it collided with the Lucy J. Latham, a schooner that was heading the opposite direction. The Orcadian had 8,200 bushels of wheat on board, while the Lucy J. Latham had a full load of 800 barrels of salt bound for Chicago.
The Orcadian took on a great amount of water from a large gap in the hull created by the collision and began to sink immediately. The captain and crew were taken aboard the Lucy J. Latham and returned to Oswego.
They are just two of an estimated 68 shipwrecks — and one military aircraft — believed to be on the floor of eastern and southern Lake Ontario, according to the National Oceananic and Atmospheric Administration.
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