USAF Beechcraft C-45 · Larry Westin Collection

NOAA Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary · Designated 2024

Four Centuries Beneath
Lake Ontario

Fifty-four documented shipwrecks span war, commerce, and stewardship — from a British 22-gun warship lost with all hands in 1780 to a USAF training aircraft that ditched off Oswego in 1952.

Lake Ontario · loading conditions…

— The Lake's Four Centuries

Every wreck, plotted by year.

Tap or click any dot to follow it into the story.

War · pre-1860 Commerce · 1860–1920 Sanctuary · 1920+ Featured wrecks 54 documented · 39 with photogrammetry · 1 NRHP · 1 aircraft

— Skanadario · The Beautiful Lake

The lake was named first.

Long before any wreck on this timeline, this water and its shoreline were home to the Haudenosaunee — the People of the Longhouse, the Six Nations Confederacy of the Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations. The lake's modern name traces back to Skanadario — "the beautiful lake" in Mohawk.

This story is not ours to tell alone. Haudenosaunee tribal collaboration is in progress. As that partnership matures, this section will grow into the part of the story it has always been.

NOAA Lake Ontario tribal engagement →

— Era 01

PRE-1860

War

Before commerce came contest. Lake Ontario was the watery border between empires, and the wrecks that mark its earliest losses are warships and frontier vessels.

In October 1780, the British 22-gun warship HMS Ontario sailed into a storm carrying soldiers, sailors, American prisoners of war, and the British upper-lakes payroll. She vanished within sight of Fort Niagara. No survivors. Two centuries later she remains the oldest confirmed shipwreck in the Great Lakes — and, under U.S.-U.K. agreement, a sovereign British war grave that may not be disturbed.

Wrecks · pre-1860: 7
HMS Ontario, year lost: 1780
Lives · HMS Ontario: ~130
Deepest war-era wreck: 490 ft

Hero wrecks

— Era 02

1860 – 1920

Commerce

The Erie Canal opened in 1825 and Lake Ontario became the gateway to a continent. Grain, lumber, iron, immigrants — and the schooners and steamers that carried them, and sometimes did not arrive.

Thirty-nine of the sanctuary's fifty-four documented wrecks lie in this era. Many sank in November storms. Bay State in 1862 took every soul aboard. St. Peter, the sanctuary's only NRHP-listed wreck, remains upright in 120 feet with her anchor still tethered. Lake Ontario's deep, cold, fresh water preserves them in ways saltwater never could.

Wrecks · 1860–1920: 39
Erie Canal opened: 1825
NRHP-listed: St. Peter
Bay State loss: All hands

Hero wrecks

— The interactive map

Fifty-four wrecks, mapped.

Live conditions. Sketchfab 3D models. Audio narration. Dive info per wreck. Filter by era, depth, region, or vessel type.

Open the map

54 wrecks · 1,722 sq mi · 39 3D models · 54 narrations · 2024 designated

— Live conditions

Eastern Lake Ontario, right now

—°F

Water · Lake Ontario

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Air · KFZY Oswego

—kt

Wind

—ft

Wave · NDBC 45012

— Plan a visit

Oswego is the front door.

Eastern Lake Ontario's port towns each hold a piece of the sanctuary's story — from the Erie Canal mouth at Oswego to the War of 1812 battlefield at Sackets Harbor.

H. Lee White Maritime Museum

1 W. 1st St. Pier, Oswego NY · open year-round

Oswego's maritime heritage museum on the Erie Canal pier — exhibits on Great Lakes commerce, U.S.S. LT-5 tug (NRHP), and an active partnership with NOAA Lake Ontario NMS staff.

hleewhitemarinemuseum.com

Sackets Harbor Battlefield

War of 1812 site · State Historic Site

The pivotal naval shipyard of the War of 1812. Battlefield park, restored navy yard, and launching point for the U.S. Navy's Great Lakes fleet.

parks.ny.gov

Dive the sanctuary

Advanced to technical · cold-water-certified

Most LO wrecks rest deep — many between 150 and 300 feet. Cold, dark, technical diving. The shallow David W. Mills at 16 ft is the only recreational-depth wreck.

Open dive map

Communities

Oswego · Sackets Harbor · Cape Vincent · Fair Haven · Sodus Point

The sanctuary stretches seventy miles along New York's eastern Lake Ontario shore. Each port has its own maritime story and access points.

Find on the map

— Made possible by

Stewards of Lake Ontario

NOAA Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary· H. Lee White Maritime Museum· National Museum of the Great Lakes· New York State Office of Parks & Historic Sites· Haudenosaunee tribal collaboration in progress· Terrain360

Four Centuries BeneathLake Ontario