NOAA Releases Northern Lights Model

Northern Lights (Daggerboard Scow Schooner, 1899)

https://shotlinediving.com/docs/daggerboard-2/

Updated Site & Identification Information

NOAA has confirmed the Northern Lights is best described as a daggerboard scow schooner, clarifying an important structural detail that earlier sources missed. Daggerboards were vital for these flat-bottomed scows to sail crosswind, acting like a retractable keel to maintain lateral stability.

Name: Northern Lights
Type: Two-masted daggerboard scow schooner
Year Built: 1899
Builder: Frank Phelps Shipyard, Chaumont, New York
Original Owner: Capt. William Shelley Sr., Cape Vincent, NY
Later Owner: Dexter Dibble, Sackets Harbor, NY
Final Loss: November 1916, grounded, then sank in 1917 after breaking free
Coordinates: N43° 54′ 53.99″, W76° 22′ 53.69″
Depth: Approx. 3 m (10 ft)
Current Status: Intact but heavily sedimented, easily accessible to divers

Vessel Type Clarification

The daggerboard arrangement distinguishes the Northern Lights from a purely flat scow:

Flat-bottom for beaching and shallow harbours
Daggerboards to help sail efficiently to windward
Simple two-masted fore-and-aft rig
Squared-off bow and scow stern maximizing cargo hold

This feature combination made her highly adaptable for the small-scale, shallow-draft grain, hay, and gravel trade of eastern Lake Ontario.

Research & Models

The Northern Lights has benefited from excellent documentation including:

✅ Dan Gildea’s Shotline Diving 3D model (2022)
→ Northern Lights 3D on Sketchfab (SLD)
(notable for hull accuracy and deck detail)

✅ NOAA’s refined site sketch and current sonar
→ NOAA’s Northern Lights 3D on Sketchfab

✅ “Sonar Guy” (circa 2000) pioneering model
→ Sonar Guy’s Daggerboard Schooner Model

From a comparative archaeological perspective, Dan Gildea’s 2022 model arguably best captures the daggerboard layout, standing rigging, and accurate sail plan as interpreted from known scow-schooner drawings, while NOAA’s latest sonar ties the structural findings together with superb precision.

History Summary

Built 1899, the Northern Lights worked hauling hay, beans, peas, and gravel until November 1916, when a storm cast her adrift and grounded her at Galloo Island. The following year another storm shifted the hull into deeper water, where she foundered and was abandoned.

The daggerboard scow design made her rugged and efficient but also vulnerable to ice damage and violent shifting waves, especially once grounded.

Conclusion

The Northern Lights is one of the best-preserved scow schooner-type wrecks in Lake Ontario, and one of the few where high-quality models, sonar, site sketches, and solid historical research converge.

✅ NOAA’s new mapping,
✅ Sonar Guy’s early 2000s scan,
✅ and Gildea’s recent 3D model

collectively provide an outstanding baseline for documenting and interpreting this remarkable piece of maritime heritage.