|
|
|
The canal-schooner Troy of Westport, New
York disappeared in a gale November 1825.
Five young men and boys perished and were never seen
again.
Arthur Cohn, Director of The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum of Basin Harbor, Vermont announced at the first annual Westport NY Heritage Festival, August 12, 2000, that the Troy had been located. The announcement was made from the site of the Halstead House, home of the boys and the first building in Westport.
The Northern Canal opened in 1823 connecting Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. New industries including iron mining and forges developed.
A new vessel design, now called the Lake Champlain Sailing-Canal boat, was invented. The first generation of sailing-canal boats were experimental. They sailed on the lake with masts mounted in a deck level tabernacle and a centerboard. When they reached the canal the masts were lowered, centerboard raised and it became a standard canal boat to be towed to the Hudson river.
The existence of sailing canal boats was unknown until the discovery of the wreck of the General Butler in 1980 in Burlington Vermont harbor. It was a third generation boat built in 1862. The Butler wreck is part of the underwater preserve and may be visted.
Marine researchers have never before seen an example of the early 1823 boats. The wreck was discovered by the museum's survey project in 1999. Besides solving a mystery about a disaster and loss of lives, the finding of the Troy is a major event in marine archeology. It is the only example of an early sailing-canal boat ever located. It provides an extremely important link in the evolution of Lake Champlain commercial vesssel design and may be the oldest vessl in the world ever located with a centerboard.
Mindful that the site may contain the remains of her young crew and the archeological significance of the boat, the site is not open to the public. It also is too deep for recreational divers.
The wreck is remarkably intact with the bow embedded in lake bottom. Full of iron ore it probably sunk very fast, bow first. Kevin Crisman's depiction of the site follows:
|
Rail detail |
|
|
|
|
Westport Marina Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Web page 12 Aug 2000 by Bob
Carroll
modified 5 April 2003
Westport Marina Inc. PO Box 410 Westport NY 12993
(518) 962-4356 Email: thecrew@westportmarina.com
