2018 Dive Season in Review - Segment 8

BTI Dive Team - The Graveyard of Scuttled Ships, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Kingston is a Canadian city located on Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Cataraqui and St. Lawrence rivers. It's known as the "Limestone City" for its grand 19th-century buildings, including the lakeside Kingston City Hall.

Our focus on this dive trip is the graveyard of scuttled ships located just outside of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Specifically, East of Amherst Island and generally West of Wolfe Island shown below.

On August 4, 2018, the BTI Dive Team participated in a SCUBA Dive Charter provided by Adventure sports NewMarket Inc. (ASN). https://www.adventuresports.ca/

Our first dive of the day was on the Munson wreck.

The Munson was a dredging barge built in the early 1880’s and operated out of Belleville. In April 1890, it was in Kingston to do some dredging to ensure adequate depth for the launching of the Minnedosa, the largest Canadian sailing ship ever built on the Great Lakes.

On Wednesday April 30th, 1890, it was being towed back to Belleville but when it reached Lemoine Point, slightly west of Kingston, it started taking on water and quickly sank to a depth of 112’. The vessel was valued at $15,000.00, which was a sizable amount for 1890.

The Munson measures 80’ x 30’ and sits completely upright. The upper deck has a nice assortment of pottery and dishes laid out along side the electric generator. Also present on the upper deck is a 19-piece collection of blacksmith forging tools. Below deck along the starboard side is a workbench and many tools are on display such as open end wrenches, saw’s, hammers, pipe wrenches etc.

Our second dive of the day was the Aloha/Effie Mae wrecks, depth 55'.

The Aloha schooner-barge was built in Mt Clemens, Michigan in 1888 and measured in at 173’ in length and 32’ in width. On October 28th, 1917, it got caught in a terrible storm about 1-½ miles north of the Nine-Mile Point Lighthouse where it foundered.

The only fatality was its Captain, 76 year old Daniel McVicar. It was located in 1964 in 55’ of water. It is about 80% intact and is the only quality shallow shipwreck that Kingston has to offer.

The Effie Mae is a 40’ wooden vessel that was both built and launched in 1968. In 1982, it finally found a home in Kingston and began its career as a dive charter boat. It was sunk as a dive site in 1993.

On August 5, 2018, the BTI Dive Team participated in a second SCUBA Dive Charter provided by Adventure sports NewMarket Inc. (ASN). https://www.adventuresports.ca/

On this day, we performed two dives on the Wolfe Islander II wreck.

The Canadian Federal Government had this 164’ ship built in Collingwood, Ontario in 1946. The intention was to give it to China to assist in the post war recovery but China soon fell to the Communists and the deal was off.

It was then converted to a car carrying ferry and found its new home in Kingston. It remained on active service until retired in 1976 when replaced by the Wolfe Islander III.

It was sunk in a protected area three miles east of Kingston on Saturday September 21st, 1985. It now sits perfectly upright at a depth of 80’.

All in all, another good dive weekend. Thanks to Adventure Sports Newmarket Inc. (ASN) for the professional dive charter services and great experiences.

The BTI Dive Team is on the road again seeking more Cold Water Diving Adventures!