3D image
Site:
Location: Clayton GPS: 44°
14.644'N, 76° 5.683'W
Depth: 75
Feet Bottom: Rock and Mud
Year built: 1889 Build
at: Picton, ONT
Vessel Type: Schooner Hull: wood
Builder: Redmond Propulsion : Sail
Length: 67 feet. Beam: 17 feet.
Depth of hold: 5
feet. Tonnage: 48
Date of loss: 1929 Cause: sunk
The Maggie L. rests across the channel from Governors Islands
just off of the village of Clayton, New
York. Its bow
was cut off during the collision with the steamer Keystate. It is in about 60
to 70 feet of water. The hull is in
reasonable shape with its decking and holds still visible. The top of the deck
is pulled to the side of the hull. This either happened at the time of the
collision or afterwards when it may have been hooked by a ship’s anchor. The masts were cut off to about 3 feet above
the deck. The ship’s rudder is still intact but the ship’s wheel was removed by
scuba divers in the 1970s.
History:
Wreck is of the 90-foot wooden schooner the Maggie L. It was
one of the last commercial sailing vessels on the Great Lakes and Upper St. Lawrence River. She sunk when her bow was
severed by the steel freighter Keystate on November 4th, 1927. Captain M. H. Mellow, of Bath, Ontario
was leaving the main shipping lane for the Clayton docks. The Keystate, a 260-ton freighter was owned
by the Keystone Lines of Canada and piloted by Captain E. J. Smith, of Kingston, Ontario. There were no fatalities and the crew reached
shore using the life boat which was being towed by the Maggie L. She sunk
within minutes of it being struck. The Maggie L. was wrecked only 45 years when
it was found in the early 1970’s. Sport
scuba diving at the time, like the hard hat diving before it, was primarily
involved in salvaging. Before the
arrival of the zebra mussel, underwater photography was almost impossible. Like many
wrecks from that time, many of its artifacts were salvaged. Times have changed
and sport diving organizations are now leading the efforts to preserve these
wrecks and train divers in low-impact diving.
Lowville Journal and Republican, Lowville, NY,
Thursday November 7, 1929.
COLLISION, SCHOONER SINKS
90-Foot Sailing Vessel Goes to Bottom of River at Clayton
The Maggie L. a 90-foot sailing vessel owned and piloted by
Captain M. H. Mellow, of Bath, Ont., sunk in about 60 feet of water a short
distance off the Clayton dock after it had collided with the Keystate, a
260-ton freighter, owned by the Keystone Lines of Canada and piloted by Captain
E. J. Smith, of Kingston, Ont., in the St. Lawrence river Friday evening about
7. Although no one was injured, the lives of three men were endangered. The men
were: Captain Mellow, R. Laird and M. H. Young, Bath, Ont. They rushed to the life boat which
was being towed by the Maggie L., and easily reached shore. Within five minutes
after they left, the Maggie L. sank from sight.
Down image of the Maggie L. where the separation of the deck
from the hull is visible. Impact from
the collision with the Keystate cut through the hull at the bow and displaced
the deck structure to the port side.
Things to see on the wreck:
• Drop
centerboard
• Rudder
• Holds
• Ships wheel
mount
OGDENSBURG
ADVANCE-NEWS Ogdensburg,
NY SUNDAY. NOV. 15. 1959
Built in England
in 1923, the Keystate is owned and operated by La Verendrye Line, Ltd. of Montreal. She is a
typical Canadian canaler, 250 feet long and 42 feet beam.
