Known Dive site since 1980s.
Location: North side Calumet Island
General Area: 44° 15.119’N, 76° 5.713’W
Depth: 42 feet
Wreck:
Bottom: Rock ledges
Year built: 1940’s
Built at:: unknown
Vessel Type: Liberty ship Life Boat
Hull Materials: metal
Builder Name: unknown
Propulsion: propeller
Length: 20 feet
Beam: 8 feet
Depth of hold: 2 feet
Tonnage: NA
Date of loss: before 1970
Cause: sunk
An abandoned metal lifeboat just off Calumet Island. The boat was first found in the 1980’s. Before zebra mussels encased it bullet holes were visible in its bottom. Good indication it was abandoned.
History:
Built during WWII, the Calumet Island wreck is a galvanized metal lifeboat. These were used on liberty ships during and after the war, then sold as scrap. They were once a common site around the Thousand Islands.
According to first hand memory of Jay Paraino there’s an interesting story on how the lifeboat came to rest on the bottom. Betty Patch and her husband Dr. Patch owned Calumet Island where they lived with their several children. Their oldest boy, one day, took the life boat and filled it full of trash and rowed it out into the river. After anchoring the boat in place with a small rope and rock he then jumped in the water and swam to shore where he and his younger siblings took turns shooting the boat with their dad’s rifle. Eventually the boat sunk to the bottom where it remains today with all of the trash still inside. It should be noted that scuttling old boats that were no longer of use was common practice in the Saint Lawrence River.
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