AH-WR-0426

Rachel

Steamboat · United States · Lost 1893 · Lake George

A chartered steam launch carrying hotel guests to a dance struck a dark-water dock and sank almost instantly, killing twelve in Lake George's deadliest disaster before 2005.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

On the night of August 3, 1893, the steam launch Rachel was chartered to carry more than twenty guests of the Fourteen Mile Island Hotel to a dance at the Hundred Island House. With her regular captain ill, a less experienced pilot steered the boat out of the channel in the dark and struck an old dock, tearing open her hull. The boat sank almost immediately, trapping some passengers on the shade deck; twelve people drowned, making it the deadliest tragedy in Lake George history until the 2005 Ethan Allen disaster.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: 40 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam
Owners: Pearl Point Hotel

Loss

Date: August 3, 1893
Cause: Collision
Location: Near Hundred Island House, Lake George
Water: Lake George
Voyage: Fourteen Mile Island Hotel → Hundred Island House
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 29
Lives lost: 12
Master: Claude Granger (substitute pilot)

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 43.55° N 73.57° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Hundred Island House, Lake George, New York
Region: Lake George

General area only: approximate coordinate of Pearl Point, the historic site of the Hundred Island House hotel on Lake George's Narrows, from Chapman Historical Museum's Seneca Ray Stoddard place records, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel ("Near Hundred Island House, Lake George"), not a surveyed wreck position.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)

New York Almanack
Date, route, cause, casualty figures, and rescue details.
Chapman Historical Museum — Hundred Island House, Pearl Point, The Narrows
identification and general location of Hundred Island House at Pearl Point, Lake George