Preserve Our Wrecks (POW) is a Kingston volunteer group, founded in 1981, that looks after the wreck sites around Kingston and Amherst Island, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. POW is the site steward for the 36 sites listed below, from the Royal Navy’s War of 1812 ships in Navy and Deadman Bays to the vessels scuttled in the Amherst Island graveyard.
Stewardship means keeping these sites diveable and intact: maintaining moorings so boats do not anchor into the wrecks, keeping an eye on site condition, and encouraging divers to leave everything where it lies. Several Kingston sites have moorings installed by other groups, such as the Ottawa Beavers on the William Johnston; POW keeps watch over them all.
Wrecks in POW’s care
- Aloha — Schooner barge
- Cedar Island 1 — Unidentified remains, Cedar Island
- Cedar Island 3 — 1950s Dodge truck, Cedar Island
- Cedar Island Yacht — Abandoned sailboat, Cedar Island
- City of Sheboygan — Schooner, lost 1915
- Comet (Mayflower) — Sidewheel steamer, built 1848, lost 1861
- Cornwall (ex Kingston, Bavarian, Algerian) — Iron sidewheel steamer, scuttled
- Dredge Islander — Dredge, lost 1936
- Dredge Munson — Steam dredge, lost 1890
- Dupont Salvage Scow (DSS) — Salvage scow
- Effie Mae — Former dive charter boat, sunk as a dive site in 1993
- Eureka — Schooner, lost 1883
- Frontenac — Tug, lost 1929
- George A. Marsh — Three-masted schooner, lost 1917
- George T. Davie — Barge, lost 1945
- Glendora — Wooden steamer
- Horace Taber (Amoskeag) — Schooner, lost 1922, Simcoe Island
- “Lusitania” — Unidentified hull, Amherst Island graveyard
- Mapleglen — Steamer, scuttled 1925
- Mark 1 — Tug
- HMS Montreal — War of 1812 warship; possibly Guenter’s Wreck near RMC
- HMS Prince Regent (Kingston) — War of 1812 frigate, Navy Bay
- Princess Charlotte (Burlington) — War of 1812 frigate, sunk in Deadman Bay 1839–43
- HMS Psyche — War of 1812 frigate, head of Navy Bay
- “Queen Mary” — Bulk propeller steamer, Amherst Island graveyard, scuttled 1925
- Ricky’s Tug — Wooden tug
- S. M. Douglas — Sand sucker, originally a passenger steamer, lost 1985
- HMS St. Lawrence — War of 1812 ship of the line, sunk as a wharf at the Morton Brewery after 1832
- Stacked Hulls — Hulls near Portsmouth, Kingston
- Tardis II — Sailboat (with Terry’s Tug)
- Terry’s Tug — Wooden tug
- Tinto — Propeller steamer, lost 1856
- “Titanic” — Bulk propeller steamer, Amherst Island graveyard, scuttled 1925
- Water Lily (KPH) — Propeller, later a barge, lost 1938
- William Jamieson — Schooner, lost 1923
- William Johnston — Tug — mooring installed by the Ottawa Beavers
The Katie Eccles, also in the Kingston area, is looked after by Save Ontario Shipwrecks.
Diving these sites
Use the moorings where they are in place. Do not anchor on or beside a wreck, do not remove or move anything, and report damaged or missing moorings. Positions on Shotline wreck pages are reported positions, not survey fixes.
Each wreck page on Shotline Diving lists POW under the Stewards tab. To report a problem at one of these sites, or to help POW, contact Shotline Diving.
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