Steamship wreck from 152 years ago discovered in New York

A mid-19th century steamboat wreck has been located in the depths of Seneca Lake, south of the town of Geneva, New York. Jim Kennard and Roger Pawlowski have confirmed that the find is a 50m-plus vessel called the Onondaga, once used to carry a variety of goods and passengers.

-- Advertisement --

The Onondaga was built in 1860 and was one of the largest steamers capable of operating in any region of the United States during the Civil War. At that time, soldiers fighting on the Union side were often transported on board.

The steamer went out of service in 1895. Three years later in 1898, when it was decided to scrap the Onondaga, someone had the idea to put on an unusual show. It was decided that the steamer would be destroyed as part of a spectacle open to the general public. According to the chronicles, the whole event gathered 5000 people on shore. The wreckage, prepared accordingly, was blown up, using 225kg of dynamite and 150kg of gunpowder.

The pictures, taken by sonar, show the wreck, or rather her hull without a deck, with dimensions perfectly matching those of the Onondaga steamer. Everything above the deck line was torn from the hull in the explosion. The rest settled on the soft sandy bottom protruding only a few metres from it.

Source: shipwreckworld.com