David W. Mills
Bulk Freighter · United States · Lost 1919 · Lake Ontario & the St. Lawrence
A wooden steam freighter stranded in fog on a shoal near Oswego in August 1919 and left to break up.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
David W. Mills was a wooden bulk steamer of the late nineteenth-century lake trade. On 11 August 1919, running in fog toward Oswego with coal, she went hard onto a shoal off the New York shore. Her crew got clear without injury, but attempts to free the hull failed and the lake worked her apart. The broken remains lie in shallow water and are a familiar local dive site.
Vessel
- 1874
- Not established
- Not established
- Wood
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Steam, single screw
- Not established
Loss
- August 11, 1919
- Grounding
- On Ford Shoals near Oswego, Lake Ontario, New York
- Lake Ontario
- Oswego, New York
- Coal
- Not established
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Broken remains lying in shallow water on the shoal.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 43.47° N 76.50° W
- Approximate position
- Oswego, New York
Position given for the shoal area west of Oswego harbour.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (64/100)
Dimensions and the extent of the surviving structure are not established in the sources reviewed.
H. Lee White Maritime Museum, Oswego
Vessel history, stranding, present state of the wreck.
Contemporary Oswego newspaper accounts, August 1919
Date, fog, cargo and removal of the crew.
