His Majesty's Ship Ontario

Traveling to some of the quaint European style towns across Lake Ontario reminds any American visitor of Canada's British legacy.   The Union Jack still flies above Canadian historical forts, the Queen of England's visage is on Canadian currency and Canada still maintains her place in the Commonwealth.   Once, many years ago, Canada was firmly British.  English troops, Canadian militia and their allies defended Canadian soil against aggression from the south.   The aggressors were?  That's right, the good old United States.

In order to protect her interests on the Great Lakes, Britain, whose empire spanned the world and whose navy ruled the seas, built warships here in fresh water and from tall Canadian timber.  These warships were hardly the massive sea going ships-of-the-line that are now part of British naval lore.  Rather, the vessels built for Great Lakes travel were sleek, fast sloops of war.  One of the largest built, was put together a mere 100 miles or so from Rochester across the lake at Carleton Island on the St. Lawrence River.  Christened in 1780, HMS Ontario carried 22 guns and was a formidable defender of Britain's interests on our backyard lake during the Revolutionary War.  America had nothing quite like it to counter her speed and powerful guns.  

Tasked with moving men and supplies from Britain's fort at Niagara to Oswego, New York, HMS Ontario got underway on Halloween 1780 for the quick trip east.  En route near Rochester, Ontario got caught up in a furious nor'easter.   The storm came up quick and fell upon the ship as she desperately tried to stay afloat during the vicious night.  The next day, observers on the southern shore noted wreckage from the ship but no visible signs of survivors.  The fate of HMS Ontario remained a mystery until just a few years ago.

1780

It wasn't until this century that two intrepid Great Lakes explorers, Dan Scoville and Jim Kennard, using remotely operated vehicle technology and side scanning sonar, came across what appeared to be a wreck of a ship deep under the surface of the cold, clear lake.  At 600 feet, the wreck was too deep to dive but sending the ROV down soon confirmed they had found what history had lost.  Here, sitting on the lake's sandy bottom, covered with quagga mussels and almost perfectly preserved after over 200 years in the icy cold depths, was HMS Ontario!

2008