Lake Ontario Maritime History

The Superior mothballed at Sackets Harbor. Eventually it was dismantled. From: Lossing’s Pictorial History of the War of 1812) By Richard Palmer The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812 before what could have been a disastrous confrontation occurred on Lake Ontario. As late as February, 1815 there were no less than 600 ship carpenters at Sackets Harbor building warships that could compare with anything built for ocean duty. Its complement was 500 officers and enlisted men. The Superior could cause much damage with its  thirty 32-pounders, two long 24-pounders and twenty-six 42-pounder carronades.  In the northern New York State the War of 1812 was more one of shipbuilding, with each side endeavoring to build the biggest armada of fighting ships ever seen on the Great Lakes.  News of the end of the war was slow to reach Sackets Harbor. But when it did, it was a cause for celebration.  The frigate Superior , which had been launched on May 2, 1814, was ch...

  When rum running moved to Lake Ontario By Richard Palmer One of the most interesting periods of Great Lakes maritime history was the Prohibition era between 1920 and 1933. This was a nationwide ban on the sale, production, importation and transportation of alcoholic beverages under the 18th Amendment known as the Volstead Act. This led to the formation of criminal syndicates that, among other activities, smuggled alcoholic beverages in from Canada. It did not work well and led to some of the worst corruption in American history.  It took years to bring the problems associated with bootlegging and rum running that ran rampant on the Great Lakes under control. In August, 1929, residents of Oswego as well as those at all ports at the northern end of Lake Ontario learned through the newspapers that rum running syndicates in Detroit were planning to transfer their operations to Kingston, 60 miles directly across Lake Ontario.The reason for their decision is said to have been due ...

  Oswego Daily Commercial Times Tuesday, December 29, 1851                         The Disaster on Saturday    During one of the most tremendous storms of winds and snow on Saturday afternoon ever known here, Capt. Samuel Freeman, keeper of the Light House at this port, procured aid and proceeded to the Light House at the east end of the west pier, in a small boat. There being a number of vessels due here, it was deemed important that the Light House should be lighted on that night, and Capt. Freeman succeeded in his hazardous undertaking in making the end of the pier and lighting the Light House. The boat was manned by Capt. Freeman and two others.    In attempting to return, when the wind was blowing a perfect gale and the atmosphere filled with snow, they were unable to manage the boat, which drifted into the surf amid floating ice, and a tremendous sea running at the time, the boat was upset. A...

               Oswego Harbor, November 11, 1869. Photo by J. Austen. Oswego Advertiser and Times, November 19, 1869    OSWEGO HARBOR - John Austen photographed the harbor on November 11th when the river was spanned by shipping below the bridge and lower the harbor was filled with craft of kinds. The view is taken from an eminence on Oneida street, and presents a portion of the trestle-work of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in the foreground, with a full view of the east side mills and elevators, with Lake Ontario in the distance.    The harbor and river present  complete forests of masts and spars, the whole thing showing off to the best possible advantage. The time very rarely occurs when so much of the shipping and business of this port can be taken at one view. Austen seized upon the opportunity, and has done his work well.    We have frequently been struck with the fact that outside of those having bu...

  Watercolor sketch of the steamboat Martha Ogden at Sackets Harbor as it appeared in 1827 by Captain James Van Cleve   Captain William Vaughan of Sackets Harbor, was skipper of the Martha Ogden the day she was wrecked. He was a sailing master with the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.   Wreck of the Steamboat Martha Ogden in 1832 By Richard F. Palmer In the 19th century, Mexico Bay was known as the graveyard of ships on Lake Ontario. Prevailing winds from the west and northwest frequently sent scores of schooners and steamboats off course onto sandbars or rocks, victims of unmerciful wind and high waves. Stony Point passage near the north end of the bay was particularly treacherous. Finally in 1837, a light was established on the southwest tip of the point. The present, privately-owned lighthouse was built in 1869. But prior to lighthouses and the U.S. Lifesaving Service, seamen were “on their own,” except for a few merciful lakeshore residents willing to lend a hand. O...