Jefferson County Maritime History

The waters of Jefferson County NY have one of the largest collections of freshwater shipwrecks anywhere in the Great Lakes system.  They are only rivaled by the shipwrecks in adjacent Canadian waters.


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Everyone of these wrecks is a known wreck, but the identification is ongoing. Some historians identify ships with a name through stories while divers have the wreck but then try to find a name.
Many links are from the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Great Lakes Maritime Collection (http://greatlakeships.org/). Additional underwater photographs from Dan Scoville’s web site https://www.shipwreckstories.com/ and Tim Caza and Dennis Gerber’s website https://sonarguy.com/. They have made over 100 discoveries in the past six years.
Shipwrecks of the Thousand Islands, second edition, is available to purchase online at https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/dennis-mccarthy/shipwrecks-of-the-thousand-islands-2016-edition/paperback/product-1yjrwg95.html and the photographer Vlada Dekina has dive photographs containing valuable research material at https://www.wrecksandreefs.com/