- Schooner
- Brockville Narrows
- N44 33 378 W75 43 151
The LILLIE PARSONS was a schooner measuring 131 feet in length, 26 feet in beam, and 10 feet in depth. It had a gross tonnage of 267 and a net tonnage of 257. The wreck of the schooner is located at coordinates N44 33 378 W75 43 151. It was built in 1868, and its home port was Oswego, New York.
On August 2, 1877, the LILLIE PARSONS passed through the Welland Canal while en route from Black River to Brockville with a load of coal, as reported by the Toronto Globe. However, the vessel encountered an unfortunate incident shortly after. On August 5, 1877, the schooner struck a rock about two miles from Brockville in the lower narrows and sank in 18 feet of water. It fell over on its side, with the mastheads protruding above the water. The LILLIE PARSONS was owned by Mr. Bary Lynch and Mr. William Quinlan of Oswego and was insured for $8,000. Efforts were made to negotiate the procurement of an apparatus to aid in the recovery of the vessel.
Over the following weeks, various news sources provided updates on the situation. The schooner slid off into 30 feet of water and remained on its side. The Brockville recorder expressed concerns about the vessel deteriorating if it was not raised. A wrecking expedition from Kingston was planned to undertake the task of salvaging the LILLIE PARSONS, which was described as a total loss by the Cleveland Herald. Eventually, the owners of the schooner abandoned their salvage attempts and claimed the insurance money, deeming it unlikely that the vessel would be raised.
In a subsequent report from July 1883, Captain Merryman, a wrecker, expressed his intention to recover the LILLIE PARSONS. He believed that the schooner, which had sunk years prior with a cargo of 500 tons of coal near Brockville, could be raised without much difficulty. Captain Merryman mentioned that he had successfully salvaged vessels that had been submerged for thirteen years and found them in relatively good condition. During salvage operations, interesting artifacts such as anchors, chains, towing ropes, and even an old steamboat wheel were occasionally discovered.
The Merchant Vessel List from 1871 recorded the LILLIE PARSONS with the U.S. registration number 15509 and listed its home port as Oswego, New York. Despite initial efforts to raise the schooner, it seems that the owners ultimately gave up and claimed the insurance money, making it highly unlikely that the vessel was ever recovered.
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