Excelsior
Lake Schooner · United States · Lost Sunk in the fall of 1884 near the mouth of the Pine Street Canal, Burlington; the exact date is not established in the sources reviewed. · Lake Champlain
One of Lake Champlain's largest sailing schooners, built in 1850 and sunk off Burlington's Pine Street Canal in 1884.
Adam Kincaid Wilson
The Vessel and Her Loss
Excelsior was built at Willsboro, New York, in 1850 as a two-masted lake schooner and worked the lake for decades under several owners. Contemporary newspapers described her as one of the largest schooners that had plied Lake Champlain. She sank near the mouth of Burlington's Pine Street Canal in the fall of 1884, and her spars were salvaged the following year. Archaeologists identified her broken hull within the Pine Street Barge Canal Breakwater site during surveys in 1991 and 2004.
Vessel
- 1850
- Official number 8092; Permanent Enrollment No. 4, Burlington, 1884
- Not established
- Willsboro, New York
- Wood
- 87 ft
- 25 ft
- 99.08
- Sail, schooner-rigged, two masts
- Mary A. Kiernan of Burlington (last owner of record)
Loss
- Sunk in the fall of 1884 near the mouth of the Pine Street Canal, Burlington; the exact date is not established in the sources reviewed.
- Not established
- Mouth of the Pine Street Canal, Burlington, Vermont
- Lake Champlain
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Henry Dupee (master per last enrollment)
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Hull broken into two sections; the bow lies on the north side of the Pine Street Canal breakwater and the stern was displaced further west when the basin was reopened around 1960-1961.
- Not established
- 1991
- Recorded Vermont archaeological site (VT-CH-796)
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Burlington, Vermont
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)
The exact date and cause of sinking are not established in the sources reviewed.
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Enrollment details, dimensions, discovery, and hull condition.
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Pine Street Barge Canal Breakwater Site
Site context and survey history.
