AH-WR-0166

Sarah Ellen

Schooner · United States · Lost 1860 · Lake Champlain

A small stone schooner foundered mid-lake in a December gale; all three aboard, including the captain's wife, were lost within sight of a companion vessel.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Sarah Ellen was built at Isle La Motte, Vermont, in 1849 as a small commercial schooner. On December 19, 1860, she left Willsboro, New York, for Burlington with a cargo of quarried stone, sailing in company with the schooner Daniel Webster. A sudden gale struck mid-lake near the Four Brothers Islands and the laden vessel foundered within minutes. Captain Henry Clay Hayward, his wife and a crewman died after their ice-covered boat capsized; the wreck was located by sonar in 1989 in roughly 300 feet of water.

Vessel

Built: 1849
Builder: Not established
Yard: Isle La Motte, Vermont
Material: Wood
Length: 73 ft
Beam: 15 ft
Tonnage: About 40 tons
Propulsion: Schooner rig
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: December 19, 1860
Cause: Storm
Location: Mid-lake near the Four Brothers Islands
Water: Lake Champlain
Voyage: Willsboro, New York → Burlington, Vermont
Cargo: Quarried stone
Aboard: 3
Lives lost: 3
Master: Henry Clay Hayward

The Wreck Today

Depth: About 300 feet (reported)
Condition: Reported intact and upright.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1989
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 44.43° N 73.33° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Willsboro, New York
Region: Lake Champlain

General area only: coordinate of the Four Brothers Islands from USGS topographic data (GNIS feature, Island class), marking the named place near which this vessel is recorded as lost, not a surveyed wreck position.