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A Canadian dive team searching for the century-old Rapid City shipwreck may have stumbled upon a much rarer prize: an intact shipwreck that may have occurred 50 years earlier than expected and provides a rare window into a little-understood era of shipbuilding.
The “unidentified object,” first spotted as a large anomaly in 2017 while investigating a fiber optic cable at the bottom of Lake Ontario from Buffalo to Toronto, caught the attention of Trent University archaeologist James Conolly, who was hoping to study the pristine wreck site.
Based on archival records, it was originally believed that this was the Rapid City, a two-masted schooner built in 1884 and used as a stonehookeruntil it was lost in 1917.
A team of dives led by research diver and Ontario Subsea Council president Hayson Chuck explored the site to test Conolly's theory that the wreck's 100-metre depth protected it from human activity.
“I don’t think anyone has done this.”
Chuck's dive brought back photographs by photographer Jeff Lindsay showing the ship so intact that its standing masts and topmasts remain in place.
“It took us a few minutes to calm down because to find an intact wreck that is still intact is very stunning,” Chuck said. “It has its own shape. Both masts were not broken. We saw two – both masts were standing, which is quite rare.
“In all the others that I have pigeons, either they fell off because the boats get caught by them, the anchors break them [or] divers damage them.
“It’s so deep that I don’t think anyone was involved in it. I think we're the first band and the joy was just overwhelming.”
Chuck, an experienced diver with more than 20 years of experience working on dozens of shipwrecks in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, said the find is all about his career.
“I have never seen a topmast on any of the wrecks I have dived in Ontario or the St. Lawrence River.”
The wreckage may be older than thought
Closer examination revealed that the ship may be much older than originally thought.
“It’s equipped with ropes,” Conolly said. “Metal rigging only became common after the 1850s. So that immediately places it probably in the first half of the 19th century.”
Conolly noted other unusual features, including the absence of a wheel on the stern deck, the absence of a centerboard winch, and an early winch design—all hinting that the vessel may have been 50 to 100 years older than the Rapid City.
“It doesn’t have a centerboard,” Conolly said, referring to the sort of movable keel that was a major advance for Great Lakes ships, especially during the Second Canal period, a time associated with the construction of the second Welland Canal in the 1850s. This movable keel helped ships resist movement from the leeward side.
If true, the wreck could provide a tantalizing glimpse into a poorly understood and largely undocumented chapter in Great Lakes shipbuilding history.
Period 1800-1850 poorly studied.
The period was major economic boom in the regionwhich marked the beginning of today's strong trade relationship between Canada and the United States. Hundreds of ships were built to facilitate this trade.but many were small shipyards of which few official records remain.
There was also a high rate of losses, resulting in short lifespans for ships due to frequent accidents and storms—all against the backdrop of a major technological transition. from sailboats to steamshipsresulting in old projects being quickly discarded without careful record keeping.
Charles Beaker is a professor at Indiana University who has dedicated his more than 40-year career to the study and preservation of Great Lakes shipwrecks. Beaker told CBC News it's rare to find a Great Lakes vessel built before the American Civil War.
He also noted that based on the images CBC News was able to share with him, there was not enough evidence to make a definitive conclusion about whether the vessel actually dates from the 1800-1850 era, and that further research is needed.
“I don't want to diminish its value,” he said. “They may be able to identify the vessel, perhaps identify the shipyard, and it would be useful to look at an actual intact vessel on the bottom to compare with what little we have in terms of drawings, tonnage and information from these vessels, and the older you get, the less information we have.”
Of the approximately 6,500 shipwrecks that lie on the bottom of the Great Lakes, few are known to be as intact as this one, he said.
“The intactness of this object makes it intriguing,” he said.
Chuck and Conolly said they plan to return to the wreck site next dive season to take measurements and take a wood sample so they can accurately date the vessel.
They give public lectures, including one at the University of Toronto on Monday, to raise awareness of maritime history preservation and secure funding to document the wreck and protect the rare standing masts.
