1780 British Warship Found in Lake Ontario

A drawing from a 1997 history of the Ontario gives a sense of the 80-foot (24-meter) ship's short-lived grandeur.

The account's author, Canadian Arthur Britton Smith, called the June 2008 discovery of the 228-year-old ship an "archaeological miracle," according to the Associated Press. "To have a revolutionary war vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable."

Ontario discoverer Jim Kennard said the ship is the property of Great Britain and will remain undisturbed unless U.K. officials decide to excavate it.

June 17, 2008—The prow of the 1780 British warship H.M.S. Ontario is shown 500 feet (150 meters) below Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York, upon the ship's discovery in early June.

Called a "holy grail" of Great Lakes wreck hunters, the 80-foot (24-meter) brig-sloop sank in a sudden gale during the U.S. Revolutionary War on October 31, 1780.

At times a sail would have been attached to the large forward pole, or bowsprit, at right. Just below, the ship's ornate, handcarved bow stem is a testament to the "personal pride" shipbuilders took in their vessels, said Dan Scoville, who found the Ontario along with fellow shipwreck enthusiast Jim Kennard.

At the back end of the 1780 British warship Ontario, the Union Jack would have flown from the flagpole (top left). Just below, some of the six windows of captain's quarters retain their panes, according to the wreck's discoverers.

Found in June 2008, the ship had sunk during a sudden storm while carrying about 120 people from Fort Niagara to Rochester, New York.
Near the top of one of the Ontario's two 80-foot (25-meter) masts, the crow's nest served as a lookout station and, during battles, a perch for musket-bearing snipers.

Built in New York State in 1780, the British warship foundered during an autumn nor'easter in October of that same year. Winds may have exceeded 60 miles (97 kilometers) an hour, said Jim Kennard, who helped find the wreck in June 2008.Encrusted with quagga mussels, a cannon protrudes from the front of the 22-gun British warship Ontario, found in Lake Ontario in June 2008.

The 1780 vessel is the oldest wreck and the only intact British war vessel found in Lake Ontario.

Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville, who discovered the ship, attribute the Ontario's remarkable preservation to the lake's cold waters and the absence of oxygen at the ship's 500-foot-deep (152-meter-deep) resting place


"That's back when they cared about how a ship looked," Scoville said.