AH-WR-0434

Sailing Canal Boat Troy (Wreck SS)

Sailing Canal Boat · United States · Lost November 1825 · Lake Champlain

An early sailing canal schooner that foundered in a sudden gale in 1825, taking all five aboard with her cargo of iron ore.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Troy was among the first generation of Lake Champlain sailing canal boats, a new vessel type invented after the 1823 opening of the Northern Canal to link the lake with the Hudson River. In November 1825, while carrying up to 90 tons of iron ore to the new furnace at Westport, she was caught in a sudden gale; the shifting cargo caused her to founder and sink within minutes, drowning all five aboard, including her young captain and his teenage brother. The wreck, discovered acoustically in 1999, was found remarkably intact, its stern suspended some 30 feet above the lakebed.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail; centerboard, mast(s) lowered for canal transit
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: November 1825
Cause: Storm
Location: Lake Champlain, en route to Westport, New York
Water: Lake Champlain
Voyage: Westport, New York
Cargo: Up to 90 tons of iron ore for the Westport furnace
Aboard: 5
Lives lost: 5
Master: Jacob Halstead

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Remarkably intact; bow embedded in the bottom while the stern is suspended roughly 30 feet above the lakebed
Orientation: Bow down, stern elevated
Discovered: 1999
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 44.18° N 73.43° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Westport, New York
Region: Lake Champlain

General area only: coordinate of Westport, Essex County, New York, from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named destination place recorded in the loss record for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.