The British Lion was a scow schooner built in 1883 in Pike Creek, Ontario. It had a length of 84.6 feet, a beam of 22.6 feet, and a depth of 5.5 feet. The vessel had a gross tonnage of 80 tons and was initially registered in Windsor, Ontario.
On October 27, 1891, while en route from Romney, Ontario to Erie, Pennsylvania with a cargo of stave bolts, the British Lion encountered a severe storm on Lake Erie. The ship capsized and foundered half a mile off Erie, Pennsylvania. Fortunately, no lives were lost in the incident, as the crew was able to take refuge in a boat. After 12 hours adrift, they were spotted by a passenger on the steamer Nyack, who alerted the crew and facilitated their rescue.
News reports from the time describe the ordeal of the crew and the subsequent loss of the British Lion. The vessel was wrecked and eventually went to pieces on the rocks near Erie. The crew members were saved, thanks to the assistance of the steamer Nyack. The British Lion was ultimately declared a total loss.
In May 1884, the British Lion had also encountered trouble when it went ashore 15 miles above Sarnia, Ontario. At that time, it was expected to be a total loss, although it’s unclear if the ship was salvaged or repaired following the incident.
The fate of the British Lion after its loss in 1891 is not fully documented. The vessel was listed as lost on Lake Erie about 20 years later in the registry records of 1920. It is likely that the ship was never recovered and its wreckage remained submerged.
The British Lion, as both a scow schooner and a victim of Lake Erie’s treacherous storms, adds another chapter to the maritime history of the region.
