Kingston Wreck Diving- the City of Sheboygan wreck and the Wolfe Island Graveyard.

city-of-sheboygan
The 135′ wooden schooner “City of Sheboygan”, when it was owned in Chicago from 1894-1897. The name plate was removed by its discoverer, and is now on display at the Kingston Marine Museum. Source: Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, BGSU.

October, 2016.

When the weather is calm it’s time to take advantage of some of the more exposed, and seldom dived wrecks.  One such wreck is the three masted schooner “The City of Sheboygan”,  which lies deep in a very exposed area south of Amherst Island.  It’s well preserved, mostly intact and regarded as one of Kingston’s “A” wrecks.  The other wrecks on this dive- the “Wire Schooner” and “Bismarck”- are unidentified, rarely visited, and have their final resting place in an area that is known as the “Wolfe Island Graveyard”.

The City of Sheboygan was originally built as a lumber schooner, and  launched in 1871 at Wisconsin in the city after which she was named.  The overloaded ship foundered in a violent storm on September 25, 1915 while carrying a cargo of  feldspar enroute from Kingston to Buffalo,  New York.  The ship’s captain, his wife (the cook) and three other crew members were lost.

Today the vessel lies at a depth of 90-105′ of water.  As you will see, the 145 year old wreck is in relatively great shape, and only missing the ship’s wheel, anchor and the name plate (which are on display at a the Marine Museum in Kingston).  The encrusting zebra mussels thrive in six or seven year cycles, depending on their food supply, with this year appearing to be a minimum.  The visibility was about 30′, albeit dark, due to the mid-morning sun, and the filtering of the light at the surface due to a warm-water algae bloom.  The water temperature at depth was at 52 degrees F.

City of Sheboygam wreck
Bow of the City of Sheboygan. Visibilty about 30′, but dark.  Just visible is the “hour-glass” shaped capstan, a vertical, rotating, ratcheting type device used for tightening docking lines in port.
Windlass on City of Sheboygan wreck
Ship’s windlass, a horizontal ratcheting device used to haul up anchors.
Kingston wreck diving.
A winch for hauling cargo. Note one of the holds to the right in the photo.
City of Sheboygan wreck, Kingston, Ontario.
The ship’s masts, rigging (including dead eyes, and blocks) are still there, but the lines (ropes) have long since rotted away.
City of Sheboygan wreck.
Ship’s “dead eyes” (minus ropes) are so called because they resemble a dead-man’s stare. They’re always found where the masts are (or were).
artifacts on City of Sheboygan wreck
Tamas inspects one of the many artifacts on display, such as pots and pans, left for other divers to enjoy.
City of Sheboygan wreck skylight prism.
Tamas shines his light on one of the “prisms” (port side) found on the roof of the rear cabin space, which acted as “sky light”. The starboard side prism has been previously removed (stolen).  Note the pot in the foreground.
prism on City of Sheboygan wreck
An underside look at the skylight “prism”, looking toward the bow. Note the “line-like” structures in the prism, indicating that it was used to disperse the light into the rear cabin space. Note also the rear mast visible in the foreground.
City of Sheboygan wreck
It’s possible to carefully move through the rear cabin space and exit to the stern.
City of Sheboygan wreck.
A starboard side view through the rear cabin space, looking toward the bow.

The “Ships’ Graveyard” refers broadly to a triangular area between Amherst I., Wolfe I. and the Kingston penitentiary. There you can find the remains of many ships that were scuttled in the 1920’s and 1930’s from when the City of Kingston decided to clean up the Kingston harbour of derelict ships.  Some of them have been identified, and are moored for diving, but most are not.

The Wire Schooner and Bismarck wrecks have not been identified, despite efforts by local diver historians, and so get their names from their prominent features. The Wire schooner wreck has large amounts of discarded steel cable (wire) in its hull.  The Bismarck wreck, a 200′ steamer, gets its name- as you might guess- from it’s huge size.  Both wrecks sit in about 90-100′ of water to the bottom, and have collapsed, with their ribs still defiantly standing.  Many ships in the graveyard-as is the case here-were sunk by burning. This also had the benefit of eliminating the superstructure so as not to be a navigational hazard. This explains why so much of the framing (“ribs”), decking, and superstructure appears to be missing.

These two wrecks are not moored, but rather are “shot-line” dives.  In a shot-line dive, the dive boat first locates the wreck on sonar, then marks the spot with a dropped, weighted line attached to a surface marker. This gives divers a reference line to make a descent to where the wreck is located.   Calm weather, along with divers being comfortable with free ascents and descents are requirements to safely make these dives.

Wire schooner wreck
Tamas and Summer round the stempost (bow) of the Wire Schooner wreck.
wire schooner wreck
Tamas and Summer explore the Wire Schooner wreck. Note the steel cables (“wire”) from which it gets its name, and the centerboard frame structure at right in the photo.
wire schooner wreck
Divers exploring the keel of Wire Schooner wreck.

 

Bright's Wine bottle.
It’s no gold bar, but still a cool find.  Cindy found this old Bright’s Concorde Wine bottle, circa 1930’s, on the Wire Schooner wreck.  Its label has long since dissolved.  It was  discarded as “garbage” along with the scuttled ship. It cleaned up pretty good for almost 90 yrs underwater!  All that is needed is some further polishing of a few minor blemishes.  Note the screw top, which started to become common in the early 1920’s when more precise bottling machinery became available.

Unfortunately we were diving air for these last two deep wrecks, which really limited our bottom times. So we’ll return again next year to satisfy our curiosities.  There’s about 75 yards of line connecting these two wrecks, beginning mid ship on the port side of the Wire Schooner. This line is covered in silt, and slack,  so it’s easily missed.  If you want to do both wrecks, you’ll be best to only do one circuit of the Wire Schooner before heading off to the Bismarck.  Initially I missed the connecting line, thinking that it was missing.

Bismarck wreck at Kingston, Ontario
This is one huge ship! The keel  line of the ship is just at the limits of visibility in the background here in the photo.  Note the connecting line at lower left.
Bismarck wreck at Kingston, Ontario.
See you next year. A parting shot of the Bismarck wreck.  All our bottom time used up,

 

keelson on shipwreck
An example of late 19th century shipbuilding. This line of vertical iron rods (now covered with zebra mussels) is where the Keelson was bolted. It likely burned away during the sinking. The Keelson was an internal timber that sat parallel to the keel, or “backbone” of the ship. It was mounted atop the frames (“ribs”), fastening it to the keel and providing additional longitudinal strength.
diving the kingston wreck graveyard
What remains of the bow of the “Bismarck”.

Tips:
We always dive with Pat Coyne, of Pat’s Charters.  He operates a fast six-pack boat that can quickly get you anywhere in and out.  Pat himself is also a tech diver, and has a deep knowledge of the area, it’s wrecks and history. The calmest predictable weather, with best visibility, is in the spring to early summer.

Related articles:

Kingston wreck diving, the Cornwall & Marsh Shipwrecks.

Kingston wreck diving, diving the George Davie & Glendora Shipwrecks.

References:
“The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks, Vol.1”, Cris Kohl, 2nd ed, 2005.

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