New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Shipwrecks

Climate Change & Lake Champlain’s Underwater History

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Chris Sabick dives the Lake Champlain shipwreck of the Phoenix, photograph by Kotaro Yamafune (courtesy Lake Champlain Maritime Museum)Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is dedicated to inspiring people to make personal connections to Lake Champlain through our region’s history, ecology, and archeology.

For the Museum’s archaeology team, this work of making connections includes conducting ongoing archeological research, on land and underwater; caring for our collection of artifacts and research; and managing Lake Champlain’s underwater cultural resources and the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserves, a unique system of shipwrecks in the lake open for divers to explore each May–October.

The flooding and ongoing climate change are threats to our work, Lake Champlain, and the lake’s shipwrecks and other underwater cultural resources. [Read more…] about Climate Change & Lake Champlain’s Underwater History

A True Tempest: American Passion for Shakespeare & The Fate of a First Folio

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Loss of the steam ship Arctic (lithograph by N. Currier). This year marks the 400th anniversary of the printing of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, one of the key books in the English speaking world.

Published seven years after the playwright’s death, many plays that were never printed in his lifetime, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar, might otherwise not have survived. [Read more…] about A True Tempest: American Passion for Shakespeare & The Fate of a First Folio

The Wreck of the Circassian: A Graveyard of the Shinnecock Nation

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Circassian Shipwreck of Long IslandIn December 1876, the cargo ship Circassian was wrecked off the coast of Mecox Bay near Bridgehampton on the South Fork Long Island in Suffolk County, NY. Although she was initially stranded just off shore, a fierce winter storm finally destroyed her, killing ten members of the Shinnecock Nation who were working to salvage her cargo. [Read more…] about The Wreck of the Circassian: A Graveyard of the Shinnecock Nation

Dutch-American History: The Phoenix Tragedy, 1847

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memorial at the Oude Begraafplaats in Winterswijk by Joske MeerdinkI love to make evening walks in the town of Winterswijk, where I was born. The Dutch habit of keeping curtains open makes strolls resemble visits to a museum, with the windows framing paintings that offer ever-changing views. I like to discover routes to find new, unfamiliar places.

One evening, in December 2020, I passede the old graveyard of Winterswijk, a place that usually gives me the creeps. For some reason — I still don’t know why, — I decide to walk across the graveyard this time. I immediately spotted a brightly lit memorial: two bollards holding up a colorful plaque. The sign reads: “The Phoenix Tragedy, 1847.” [Read more…] about Dutch-American History: The Phoenix Tragedy, 1847

New York’s Forgotten Aeronaut & Diver: William Warren Rulison

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St. Lawrence Republican August 16, 1882, Ogdensburg Fair AdvertisementWhen seventy-eight-year-old William Rulison passed away in August of 1931, the only newspaper in Upstate New York that carried the news was Cooperstown’s Otsego Farmer. In this obituary, he was noted only as a “pioneer in balloon flying in this part of the country,” and a man who went by the title of Professor. This report of his passing left much untold, and in the material that follows I hope to give a complete account of his full and varied life. [Read more…] about New York’s Forgotten Aeronaut & Diver: William Warren Rulison

1873 Schooner Barge Ironton Wreck Discovered in Lake Huron

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Ironton resting on the bottom of Lake Huron with its masts standing, rigging attached to the spars, and anchor still attached (courtesy NOAA- Undersea Vehicles Program UNCW)Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust have discovered an intact wreck of the Ironton resting hundreds of feet below the surface of Lake Huron. [Read more…] about 1873 Schooner Barge Ironton Wreck Discovered in Lake Huron

‘Bad Luck Barquentine’ Wreck Found in Lake Superior

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Modern drawing of Nucleus hitting the Detroit (artwork courtesy Bob McGreevy) The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) has discovered the wreck of the 144-foot Barquentine Nucleus. The Nucleus was found under 600 feet of water around 40 miles northwest of Vermilion Point on Lake Superior. [Read more…] about ‘Bad Luck Barquentine’ Wreck Found in Lake Superior

Culture War, Transatlantic Migration & The Wreck of the SS Deutschland

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An 1875 caricature of Bismarck and Pope Pius IX playing a game of chess symbolizing the Kulturkampf (Culture War)Following the mid-nineteenth century revolution in steamship building, transatlantic passenger transport became a profitable enterprise. Travel went global, giving rise to an intercontinental “travel industry.”

Commercial oceanic transportation boomed. Bremen-based NDL (Norddeutscher Lloyd) and Hamburg-based HAPAG (Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt Aktiengesellschaft) became the largest shipping companies in the world. [Read more…] about Culture War, Transatlantic Migration & The Wreck of the SS Deutschland

Featured Recreation Area: The Sunken Fleet of 1758, Lake George

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Lake George shipwreckThe Adirondacks remain one of the most sought-after destinations for outdoor recreation. From hiking serene mountain passes to hitting the bike trails, it truly has something for everyone – even historic ship divers.

Lake George was the site of many pivotal engagements in the founding years of our nation, including the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. Evidence of its witness are but a stone’s throw from shore where Fort William Henry, in the cold, dark waters. [Read more…] about Featured Recreation Area: The Sunken Fleet of 1758, Lake George

1984 Wreck of the Wind Blown Off Long Island

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long island history project logoIn her first book, The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind (Gallery Books, 2021), journalist Amanda Fairbanks documents the story of the Wind Blown and the men who lost their lives aboard it in 1984 off the east end of Long Island.

Piecing the story together over years of interviews and research, she unraveled a history of close-knit communities, from the working class east end to the wealthy upper east side. She also found a complicated tale of relationships and personalities that still absorbs people in the community to this day. [Read more…] about 1984 Wreck of the Wind Blown Off Long Island