A team of three underwater explorers from New York discovered a ship on the bottom of Lake Ontario in North America’s Great Lakes region. The wreckage was identified as a 200-years-old sloop “Washington” that was built in USA and owned by Canadians. The vessel sank after being caught in fierce storm in 1803.

The sloop was built in 1789 on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania. It was used to transport people and goods between western New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario. In 1802 it was sold to Canadian merchants. During its last voyage on November 6, 1803 it was going from Kingston for its home port of Niagara, carrying at least five people and a cargo of merchandise, including goods from India. All aboard died. Contemporary records noted portions of the cargo and pieces of the ship being found the following day on shore near Oswego. It is the oldest commercial sailing vessel found in the Great Lakes and the only sloop known to have sailed on lakes Erie and Ontario.

(after Toronto Star)