In the summer of 1934, the Great Lakes lost not just another ship — but a vital piece of Canadian maritime history.
The Lyman M. Davis, a 133-foot wooden schooner that had once hauled timber, coal, and cargo across the Lakes, was deliberately burned as a public spectacle off Toronto’s Sunnyside Beach.
At 61 years old, she was the last commercial sailing schooner still afloat on the Great Lakes. Her fiery end was billed as “entertainment” for a holiday crowd.
To later generations, it became a symbol of something far more serious: a careless disregard for the region’s marine heritage.
A Fire on the Lake
On the night of June 29, 1934, the Lyman M. Davis was towed out from Sunnyside and anchored near the mouth of the Humber River. Her hold was packed with kerosene-soaked timber and barrels, and a banner stretched between her masts announced the grim event to come.
As midnight struck, fireworks lit up Toronto’s lakeshore — and explosives aboard the schooner ignited. Flames climbed her rigging, her decks collapsed, and by 1:30 a.m., she slipped beneath the surface of Lake Ontario.
Contemporary reports estimated over 250,000 spectators watched from shore.
Rick Jackson, later president of Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS), would call it
“the most outrageous, disgusting event I’ve ever heard of.”
The Last of Her Kind
Built in 1867 at Muskegon, Michigan, the Lyman M. Davis was typical of the post–Civil War schooners that carried timber and freight across the Great Lakes. For decades, she worked the routes between Chicago, Muskegon, and Lake Huron ports.
By the 1920s, she was a rare survivor of the age of sail — bought by the Graham family of Kincardine, Ontario, and later laid up at Sunnyside as a floating relic.
When local entrepreneurs proposed turning her into a museum ship or youth training vessel, the idea was rejected. Instead, she was sold for use as a fireworks stunt to celebrate Canada’s approaching centennial year.
Rediscovered Beneath the Waves
More than fifty years later, divers from Save Ontario Shipwrecks located the wreck during a 1980s summer project.
The team — including Rick Jackson, Rudi Melman, and Numa Raposa — descended into 140 feet (43 m) of cold, dark water to find the shattered remains of the schooner.
They discovered about 35 feet of her bow section still standing, her white oak timbers scattered across the lakebed.
Visibility was often less than eight feet. Yet the evidence was unmistakable — this was Ontario’s lost schooner.
Jackson reflected on the find:
“For the life of me, I can’t see how anyone could say there’s no historical significance here. She was the last sailing freighter on the Great Lakes.”
A Lesson in Preservation
The destruction of the Lyman M. Davis helped ignite a movement to protect Ontario’s underwater heritage.
Rick Jackson and other members of Save Ontario Shipwrecks began campaigning for education, legal protection, and public awareness — laying the groundwork for today’s no-touch documentation ethics.
“Our marine heritage has all but vanished,” Jackson told the press.
“Only divers now visit these shipwrecks. They’re a perfectly preserved moment in time.”
Dive Site Snapshot (Historical)
- Vessel: Lyman M. Davis
- Type: Great Lakes Schooner
- Built: 1867 – Muskegon, Michigan
- Length: 133 ft (40.5 m)
- Lost: June 29, 1934 – Burned off Sunnyside Beach, Toronto
- Depth: ~140 ft (43 m)
- Condition: Scattered hull remains; bow section standing ~5 ft
- Discovered: 1980s – Save Ontario Shipwrecks team
Why It Still Matters
The story of the Lyman M. Davis is a reminder of how fragile our maritime heritage can be — and how easily it can vanish through neglect or indifference.
Her destruction became one of the defining examples of why Ontario’s shipwrecks deserve respect, protection, and study.
Today, divers and historians continue the work that began in outrage — transforming loss into legacy.
“She was beautiful,” Jackson once said,
“and she deserved to be remembered.”
Shotline Diving Perspective
As divers and storytellers, we visit these sites not to disturb them but to preserve their stories.
Every plank, every iron fitting, every piece of a wreck like the Lyman M. Davis connects us to the people who built and sailed these lakes generations ago.
So whether you explore Ontario’s wrecks underwater or through historical archives, remember:
Leave only bubbles, take only memories — and protect what remains beneath our waters.