The Bermuda was a wooden schooner that was built in 1868 by J. Tait in Sophiasburg, Ontario (specifically Robbins Cove, Long Reach). It had dimensions of 96 feet in length, 23 feet in beam, and 8 feet in depth, with a tonnage of 160. The vessel operated primarily on Lake Ontario.
On November 6, 1880, the Bermuda met its demise off Port Granby, Ontario (also known as False Ducks) due to a storm. The schooner was intentionally grounded when it began to leak, resulting in the vessel and its cargo becoming a total loss on the rocky shore. The Bermuda was carrying 9,000 bushels of barley at the time of the incident. It was en route from Oshawa, Ontario, to Oswego, New York. Thankfully, there were no reported casualties associated with the loss.
The Bermuda was registered out of Whitby, Ontario, and owned by Morse & Paige. Reports indicate that both the vessel and its cargo were insured. Unfortunately, no further details are available about the circumstances leading up to the grounding or the subsequent wreckage.
In a report from 1969 by the Scarborough Underwater Club, it was mentioned that the remains of a schooner named Bermuda were uncovered in Decker’s Creek near Port Granby. However, further research suggests that this assumption was incorrect, as multiple vessels were known to have wrecked in that area, and the limited amount of wreckage found made it impossible to definitively identify the vessel as the Bermuda.
Overall, the Bermuda met its fate in a storm off Port Granby, Ontario, in 1880 when it was intentionally grounded due to leakage. The vessel and its cargo of barley were lost, but fortunately, there were no reported loss of life in the incident.
