Ocean Wave
Two-Masted Schooner · Canada · Lost 1890 · Lake Ontario & the St. Lawrence
A heavily laden lumber schooner capsized in a Lake Ontario gale in 1890, killing all five aboard.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Ocean Wave was a small wooden schooner built in 1868 at Picton, Ontario, engaged in the lumber trade across Lake Ontario. On November 7, 1890, she left Belleville for Oswego, New York, heavily laden with lumber, lath, and barrel parts. A gale swept the lake on November 9, and the schooner capsized with the loss of all five aboard. NOAA and its partners have since documented her wreck, including her distinctive clipper bow.
Vessel
- 1868
- John Tait and William Redmond
- Picton, Ontario
- Wood
- 81 ft
- 20.1 ft
- 98
- Sail, two masts
- Capt. Thomas Brokenshire, Cobourg, Ontario, and Capt. William Martin, Port Hope, Ontario
Loss
- November 9, 1890
- Storm
- Lake Ontario, between Belleville, Ontario, and Oswego, New York
- Lake Ontario
- Belleville, Ontario → Oswego, New York
- Hemlock lumber, lath, and barrel parts, much of it as deck cargo
- 5
- 5
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Clipper bow preserved, with draft markings still visible
- Not established
- Not established
- Within Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Oswego, New York
NOAA's Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary wreck profile for Ocean Wave and contemporary news coverage of its 2013 discovery by Jim Kennard's team (found roughly 15 miles off Oswego, later settling in about 300 feet of water) describe the wreck's approximate area but do not publish specific coordinates.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (82/100)
Precise coordinates and present depth have not been publicly released by NOAA.
NOAA Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary
Vessel history, loss narrative, and wreck documentation.
