SHOTLINE WRECKDB /Lake Ontario /Comet (1848)
Confirmed

Comet (1848)

sidewheel steamer, wood, passenger and package freight · 1848–1861
Lost
14 May 1861
Cause
Collision with the 2-mast schooner Exchange ~10 mi off Nine…
Lives lost
2: John Blake (from the neighbourhood of Kingston Mills), J…
Depth
60–90 ft · 18–27 m

Reportedly lies in Lake Ontario.

Created 11 Aug 2026 Revised 20 Oct 2026 Last source added 20 Oct 2026 33 facts · 16 sources
44.13865, -76.58462
Position confidence: not set. Not for dive planning.
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Tombstone

Best value from the sources on record.
Type
sidewheel steamer, wood, passenger and package freight
Propulsion
Sidewheel
Hull
Wood
Built
1848
Builder
George N. Ault (master shipwright; his first major project), Portsmouth, Ont.
Official no.
92861
Dimensions
174 × 23.5 ft · 20 net
Gross tonnage
337
Name history
Csc writeup: Comet 1848; renamed Mayflower after the 1851 Oswego boiler explosion and repair; served about ten years as Mayflower; refurbished at Kingston for $10,000 and renamed Comet in 1861 under Holcomb, Cowan & Co.; Ship society list: Mayflower 1854, renamed Comet 1860
Owner at loss
Holcomb, Cowan & Co.
Master at loss
Capt. Francis Patterson
Lost
14 May 1861
Cause
Collision with the 2-mast schooner Exchange ~10 mi off Nine-Mile Point, Lake Ontario, followed by an explosion and fire
Lives lost
2: John Blake (from the neighbourhood of Kingston Mills), John McCarthy (salt-water boy from Dublin, Ireland)
Depth
60–90 ft · 18–27 m
Reported position
3 reported positions
Discovered
Hobby divers who had searched for her for about ten years. Artifacts recovered, some held by the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.
3D model
View 3D model
More from the record (6)
Collision vessel
Struck on starboard side almost midships, stem on, breaking rail and three stanchions; Exchange making 8.5 mph; reached Kingston. Schooners New London (Cleveland) and Fulton (Oswego) nearby.
Dive site info
Sunk: May 15, 1861; Build: Sidewheel Steamer; Built: 1848 – Kingston, Ontario; Depth: 90'; Level: Advanced; Links: http://ntdmm.com/comet.mov
http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Photos/sites/Comet2b.JPG
http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Photos/sites/Comet4b.JPG
http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/comet.htm
http://www.warrenlophotography.com/uw/kingston/comet/index.htm
http://www.wrecksandreefs.com/comet.htm; Access: Boat; Length: 174' 8"; Cautions: The propulsion devices of this 337-ton side wheeler still tower 25' above the bottom of Lake Ontario near Kingston. They are the most intact part of the ship, with much of the upper decks having been flattened.; Location: Kingston; Placemark: Comet
Name variant
Comet
Notable incidents
1848 After a few trips struck a shoal off Chimney Island, St. Lawrence River, and sank; owners (Platt family) declared bankruptcy; bought at auction by Macpherson & Crane, 1849.
1849 (fall) Under Capt. W.R. Taylor, burst a steam pipe ~10 mi out of Toronto harbour; three Irish firemen injured, two fatally.
1851 Boiler explosion leaving Oswego; sank in the harbour shallows; 8 lives lost. Sold seven months later; renamed Mayflower; property of the Watertown & Rome Railroad, held in trust by two Kingston men.
1853 Ran ashore at Scarborough Bluffs (as Mayflower).
1857 Laid up at Portsmouth with a caretaker during the recession.
1859 Floating hotel during the Provincial Exhibition.
1861 Tore her moorings in a storm and struck the Cataraqui Bridge; refurbished for $10,000; renamed Comet under Holcomb, Cowan & Co.
Position reported
Lat: 44.1388; Lon: -76.584517; Gps text: N 44 08.328 W 76 35.071; List name: Comet; Distance from previous canonical m: 19
Salvage history
By 1867 the wrecked hull of the former steamer Comet (formerly named May Flower) lay under water in the direction of the Ducks, Lake Ontario; Messrs. Calvin & Breck reportedly purchased the wreck for a nominal sum, intending to try to raise her machinery and any other valuable portion. Reported in the Daily British Whig, Kingston, ON, 7 Jun 1867.

Comet also known as Mayflower, 1851–1860

Sidewheel Steamer · Lost May 14–15, 1861 · Near Nine Mile Point, Lake Ontario

70 ft Bottom Paddlewheels Intact Sidewheel Steamer Advanced OW+ POW Moored Collision Loss Kingston, Ontario

Built at Portsmouth Village, Kingston in 1848, the Comet is one of the Great Lakes’ most storied wrecks — a passenger sidewheeler that sank four times before her final resting place claimed her for good. Today she lies upright off Simcoe Island, both 32-foot paddlewheels still standing after 160 years, a landmark of Lake Ontario diving.

⚓ Vessel & Site at a Glance

Type Sidewheel Steamer — Passenger & Package Freight
Built 1848 — Fisher’s Shipyard, Portsmouth, Ontario
Builder George N. Ault
Length / Beam 174 ft (53 m)  /  24 ft (7.3 m)
Tonnage 337 tons (old measure)
Engines Twin walking beam steam engines — Ward Foundry, Montreal
Lost May 14–15, 1861 — collision with schooner Exchange
Captain at loss Francis Paterson
Lives lost 2 confirmed — John Blake & John McCurthy
Bottom depth 70 ft / 21 m  (diver-verified)
Paddlewheel top 40 ft / 12 m  (diver-verified)
Orientation Upright on silt
GPS N 44° 08.319′   W 076° 35.042′
Discovered September 7, 1967 — Jim McCready & Dr. Robert McCaldon
Mooring POW Kingston — seasonal buoy (do not anchor)

📐 Depth Profile

Surface
Lake Ontario — open water / mooring buoy
40 ft ★
Top of paddlewheels — diver-verified landmark
~50 ft
Main deck level (collapsed)
~58 ft
Walking beam engines & boilers visible
~64 ft
Stern — rudder, windlass, stove
70 ft ★
Bottom — diver-verified (many sources incorrectly list 80–90 ft)

📜 The Wreck

The Comet sank four times before the lake finally kept her. Built in 1848 at Portsmouth Village — a shipbuilding community now absorbed by Kingston — she struck a St. Lawrence shoal on one of her earliest voyages, was raised, and returned to service. In November 1849 a burst steam pipe at Toronto killed two crew. Then on April 3, 1851, her boiler exploded catastrophically at Oswego, New York, killing eight. The hull was salvaged, rebuilt, and returned to service under the name Mayflower in 1854, before being refitted and renamed back to Comet in 1860. On the evening of May 14, 1861 — the first voyage of the season — Captain Francis Paterson cleared Kingston harbour and Nine Mile Point bound for Toronto and Hamilton. Steering toward Timber Island in strong southwest winds to give wide berth to vessels running down the lake, the Comet encountered the American schooner Exchange, loaded with wheat from Chicago.
“The Comet struck the schooner’s starboard side with her stern, springing the steamer’s planks and opening her to the sea… Meanwhile the pumps were worked and the fires kept up for the purpose of making shore, the steamer at the time being about ten miles above Nine-mile Point.” — Kingston News, reprinted in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, May 15, 1861
Both vessels tried to stay close but the wind carried the Exchange out of hailing distance. Two deckhands, John Blake (Kingston Mills) and John McCurthy (Dublin, Ireland), were thrown overboard trying to bail and drowned. Captain Paterson launched the yawl with thirteen aboard and made Simcoe Island on a single oar. The Comet sank approximately 1.5 miles off the island. The Exchange made Kingston harbour the following morning. She lay unfound for 106 years. Kingston divers Jim McCready and Dr. Robert McCaldon located her on September 7, 1967 — the end of a ten-year search. Their discovery was featured in Diver Magazine. Artifacts recovered at the time — brass fittings, ironstone pitchers, hand-blown glassware — were donated to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, where they remain on display.

🤿 Diving the Comet

The Comet rests upright on silt with the two massive paddlewheels — each approximately 32 feet in diameter — standing erect on either side, still connected to the walking beam engine assembly. The superstructure has largely collapsed but the hull, engines, boilers, rudder, anchor windlass, and stove all remain. Plates and cups still rest on the decking. Penetration at the stern is possible for trained divers, giving access to the engines and boilers.
Certification Advanced Open Water minimum; cold water experience strongly advised
Visibility 2–3 m (poor days) to 20+ m (spring / fall); best May and September–October
Temperature at depth 3–8°C — dry suit strongly recommended
Current Minimal to none on the wreck
Silt sensitivity High — buoyancy control is critical
Access Offshore — charter boat required
Season May – October

🔒 Full Article — Members Only

The members article includes the complete four-incident history with primary newspaper sources from 1861, full vessel registry data (Official No. C 92861, engine provenance from steamer Shannon 1830), the rename chronology, complete artifact inventory in situ and at the Marine Museum, discoverer account and Diver Magazine reference, dive site data table, interactive 3D photogrammetry model, and a 15-source verified research link grid. Read the Comet Mayflower Members Article ↗

🔗 Key Links

🔒

Full Wreck Record — complete historical article, construction details, voyage logs, incident reports, dive conditions, and all research sources.

Join Shotline to read more →

Great Lakes Ships

greatlakeships.org vessel records: registry, build, ownership, loss.
Great Lakes Shipsgreatlakeships.org
Registry

COMET (1848, Steamer) — Great Lakes Ships record

GLS-2907681 Open source
Formatted text
Located 2026-10-18 by web search during wreck-page redesign; linked at Tom's request.

Site-specific GLS vessel record. Facts not yet extracted.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.

David Swayze Shipwreck File

Swayze Great Lakes shipwreck file and its source citations.
David Swayze Shipwreck Fileshotlinediving.com
Nothing linked from Swayze
No record from this source is linked to this wreck yet.

BGSU Historical Collections of the Great Lakes

Great Lakes Vessels Index: registry, rig, name changes, owners, disposition.
Historical Collections of the Great Lakesbgsu.edu
Nothing linked from BGSU
No record from this source is linked to this wreck yet.

Marmus · Marine Museum of the Great Lakes

Ship lists held by the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, Kingston: the Mills List (Canadian Coastal and Inland Steam Vessels, 1809–1930) and the Wallace List.
Mills Listgreatlakesmuseum.ca Wallace Listgreatlakesmuseum.ca
Nothing linked from Marmus
No record from this source is linked to this wreck yet.

Newspapers

Contemporary and later newspaper accounts.
Maritime History of the Great Lakesmaritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca
Newspaper

Loss of the Steamer "Comet." — Two Lives Lost (from the Kingston News), with statement of Capt. George Judson, schooner Exchange

1861 · Tom Rutledge Multimedia CD · 03-comet-compilation (D-E)
GLOBE-1861-05-17
Formatted text
Toronto Globe, 17 May 1861. Transcribed copy on Tom Rutledge Multimedia CD; see sources/multimedia-cd/03-comet-compilation.md sections D-E

Contemporary primary account.
What this source says
Collision vessel
Struck on starboard side almost midships, stem on, breaking rail and three stanchions; Exchange making 8.5 mph; reached Kingston. Schooners New London (Cleveland) and Fulton (Oswego) nearby.
Crew loss
2: John Blake (from the neighbourhood of Kingston Mills), John McCarthy (salt-water boy from Dublin, Ireland)
Depth
Values: Ft: 90 Ft: 80 Ft: 60
Location description
Reported: about a mile and a half, nearly west of Nine-Mile Point Lighthouse, in sixty feet of water about 1.5 miles off Simcoe Island in about 90 ft two miles from the tip of Wolfe Island in eighty feet
Master at loss
Capt. Francis Patterson
Newspaper

Exchange (Schooner), collision, 1861 — Maritime History of the Great Lakes

MHGL-42175 Open source
Formatted text
Located 2026-10-18 by web search during wreck-page redesign; linked at Tom's request.

Item title gives 1 May 1861; Comet loss date is 14 May 1861. Check whether title date is an error or a separate report.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.
Newspaper

Marine Items (Comet/May Flower wreck purchase)

Formatted text
Daily British Whig (Kingston, ON), 7 Jun 1867

Calvin & Breck purchase of the wrecked steamer Comet (ex-May Flower) near the Ducks.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.

Webpages

Club write-ups, dive-site pages and online compilations.
Wrecks and Reefswrecksandreefs.com Warren Lo Photographywarrenlophotography.com
Website

Comet — Wrecks and Reefs

WAR-COMET Open source
Formatted text
Located 2026-10-18; Tom's standing list of web collections to check.

Diver site. Page blocks automated reading (robots); identity as the Kingston Comet not yet confirmed and facts not extracted.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.
Website

Comet steamer, Lake Ontario — ShipwreckWorld

SWW-COMET Open source
Formatted text
Located 2026-10-18 by web search during wreck-page redesign; linked at Tom's request.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.
Website

Comet also known as Mayflower — Shotline Diving wreck page

SHOTLINE-COMET-WRECK Open source
Formatted text
Located 2026-10-18 by web search during wreck-page redesign; linked at Tom's request.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.
Website

Shipwreck Report: Steamboat Comet (aka Mayflower) — Shotline Diving

SHOTLINE-COMET-REPORT Open source
Formatted text
Located 2026-10-18 by web search during wreck-page redesign; linked at Tom's request.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.

Archives (Paperless)

Archival documents, registers, books and private collections.
Other

The Comet — CSC-SCC write-up with Ship Society list entry, McCaldon (Skin Diver, Nov 1968) excerpt and Marine Museum of the Great Lakes brochure text

CSC-SCC; R.J. McCaldon · 2000 · Tom Rutledge Multimedia CD · 03-comet-compilation
CD2001-COMET
Formatted text
CSC-SCC, Word document created 12 Nov 2000, last saved 13 May 2002 by Tom Rutledge, Tom Rutledge Multimedia CD. Transcript: sources/multimedia-cd/03-comet-compilation.md

Secondary compilation. McCaldon, R.J. "Canada's Comet", Skin Diver Magazine, Nov 1968, pp.50-51.
What this source says
Builder
George N. Ault (master shipwright; his first major project), Portsmouth, Ont.
Crew loss
2: John Blake (from the neighbourhood of Kingston Mills), John McCarthy (salt-water boy from Dublin, Ireland)
Depth
Values: Ft: 90 Ft: 80 Ft: 60
Discovery
Hobby divers who had searched for her for about ten years. Artifacts recovered, some held by the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.
Location description
Reported: about a mile and a half, nearly west of Nine-Mile Point Lighthouse, in sixty feet of water about 1.5 miles off Simcoe Island in about 90 ft two miles from the tip of Wolfe Island in eighty feet
Master at loss
Capt. Francis Patterson
Name history
Csc writeup: Comet 1848; renamed Mayflower after the 1851 Oswego boiler explosion and repair; served about ten years as Mayflower; refurbished at Kingston for $10,000 and renamed Comet in 1861 under Holcomb, Cowan & Co.; Ship society list: Mayflower 1854, renamed Comet 1860
Notable incidents
1848 After a few trips struck a shoal off Chimney Island, St. Lawrence River, and sank; owners (Platt family) declared bankruptcy; bought at auction by Macpherson & Crane, 1849. 1849 (fall) Under Capt. W.R. Taylor, burst a steam pipe ~10 mi out of Toronto harbour; three Irish firemen injured, two fatally. 1851 Boiler explosion leaving Oswego; sank in the harbour shallows; 8 lives lost. Sold seven…
Owner at loss
Holcomb, Cowan & Co.
Other

Wreck of the George T. Davie

Tom Rutledge · 2001 · Tom Rutledge Multimedia CD · 05-george-t-davie-rutledge
CD2001-DAVIE-RUTLEDGE
Formatted text
Tom Rutledge, article written for Diver magazine; Word document dated 18 Sept 2001, Tom Rutledge Multimedia CD. Transcript: sources/multimedia-cd/05-george-t-davie-rutledge.md

Cites the Shipping Casualty report (statement of acting master James Ruth). Publication issue not recorded in file.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.
Reference compilation

Great Lakes "this day in history" wreck almanac — Blanche and Comet entries

Formatted text
Daily Great Lakes shipwreck almanac/compilation (source publication/author not given by user — appears to be a "this day" social media or reference post series). Blanche entry: "On 26 May 1888, BLANCHE (2-mast wooden schooner, 95 foot, 92 gross tons, built in 1874, at Mill Point, Ontario) was carrying coal with a crew of five on Lake Ontario. She was lost in a squall somewhere between Oswego, New York and Brighton, Ontario." Comet entry: "On 14 May 1861, COMET (wooden side-wheeler, 174 foot, 337 gross tons, built in 1848, at Portsmouth, Ontario) collided with the 2-mast wooden schooner EXCHANGE, ten miles off Nine-Mile Point on Lake Ontario. Then an explosion rocked the COMET and she was destroyed by fire, 2 or 3 lives were lost, but the survivors reached Simcoe Island in a lifeboat."

Supplied by user (Tom), Jul 2026, as part of a much larger multi-lake almanac dump (~30 entries total, most on Lakes Huron/Michigan/Erie/Superior, outside Shotline's Ontario/St. Lawrence focus). Only the Blanche and Comet entries were processed into the DB here since both match existing Lake Ontario site records; the remainder were not written pending user direction on scope.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.
Website

Ontario Shipwrecks map — Ontario Underwater Council (Google My Maps / KMZ)

OUC-ONTARIO-SHIPWRECKS-KMZ
Formatted text
Ontario Underwater Council, "Ontario Shipwrecks" Google My Maps layer, exported as KMZ; supplied by Tom Rutledge 2026-10-20. Map note: GPS coordinates are supplied by third parties unless stated as confirmed by OUC.

135 placemarks: Ontario dive sites and wrecks with type, location, depth, length, built, sunk, access, level, orientation, cautions, descriptions and links (SOS newspaper accounts, Wrecks & Reefs, ScubaQ). Supplied as "GPS locations by Save Our Shipwrecks"; the file itself is credited to the Ontario Underwater Council.
What this source says
Dive site info
Sunk: May 15, 1861; Build: Sidewheel Steamer; Built: 1848 – Kingston, Ontario; Depth: 90'; Level: Advanced; Links: http://ntdmm.com/comet.mov http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Photos/sites/Comet2b.JPG http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Photos/sites/Comet4b.JPG http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/comet.htm http://www.warrenlophotography.com/uw/kingston/comet/index.htm http://www.wreck…
Position reported
Lat: 44.138802; Lon: -76.584518; Ouc confirmed: No; Distance from canonical m: 19
Personal communication

Tom Rutledge — Kingston-area and Georgian Bay wreck positions list

PC-RUTLEDGE-20261020-KPOSITIONS
Formatted text
Tom Rutledge (Shotline Diving), personal communication, 2026-10-20

Numbered position list (deg / decimal-min) for Kingston, Amherst Island graveyard, Prince Edward County, 1000 Islands and Hope Island wrecks, incl. nicknamed hulls (Queen Mary, Titanic, Lusitania; Glendora marked nickname), Waterlily (K.P.H.), Terrys Tug, Stacked Hulls; Jodrey and Londonderry positions are the deep ends. Lottie Wolf: more broken up, only 18 ft.
What this source says
Position reported
Lat: 44.1388; Lon: -76.584517; Gps text: N 44 08.328 W 76 35.071; List name: Comet; Distance from previous canonical m: 19
Personal communication

Tom Rutledge — OUC map import

PC-RUTLEDGE-20261020-OUCMAP
Formatted text
Tom Rutledge (Shotline Diving), personal communication, 2026-10-20

Tom supplied the Ontario Shipwrecks KMZ for import of GPS positions and dive-site details.
What this source says
No facts extracted from this source yet.

Photo gallery

Period photos, illustrations, site and survey imagery. Photos, files and video come from this wreck’s Paperless folder.
Comet Lake Ontario
Outside gallery
Comet underwater gallery — Warren Lo Photography
Images remain with the photographer; linked, not copied.

Files

Original documents behind the sources. Same Paperless folder as photos and video.
No files attached yet.

Video and 3D

Dive footage, ROV runs and 3D models, each with diver or surveyor credit.
Website
Comet 3D Interactive Model, 2012 — 3DShipwrecks.org
3D photogrammetry model of the Comet, dated 2012 per page title.