ROCHESTER, New York (16 June 2008) — The HMS Ontario was on its way back to Carleton Island from Fort Niagara on Oct. 31, 1780, when a violent storm sunk the British warship along with Master and Commander James Andrew, its crew, army officers, wives, children and possibly some American prisoners of war. For more than two centuries, people have wondered what happened to the ship and its up to 130 passengers, and now James W. Kennard and Daniel J. Scoville, both of Rochester, may be able to help tell its story. The two diving enthusiasts said they discovered the shipwreck two weeks ago after devoting three years to searching for the 80-by-25-foot ship in Lake Ontario. Although neither man would disclose the location nor depth of the wreck, Mr. Kennard said it's somewhere along the international border in the nearly 80-mile stretch from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Rochester, where the depth extends beyond 500 feet. "We work closely with the state of New York, and they were the first to know of the discovery," he said. "Our feeling is that until such time that New York state will sanction an archaeological retrieval, we don't want to give the specific location up and have it compromised." Mr. Scoville said it's "a ways from shore where general pleasure boaters don't go. It's miles and miles out, essentially in the middle of the lake." SEARCH AND DISCOVERY Over the three-year search period, Mr. Kennard and Mr. Scoville covered more than 200 square miles. Most days on the water with their 24-foot boat, Mr. Kennard said, were like staring at a blank screen, where nothing happened and boredom settled in. The men used a side-scan sonar to find the wreck and an unmanned submersible to confirm their find. Mr. Kennard and Mr. Scoville said they will never forget the afternoon of May 31, when they discovered a part of history. "We found it midafternoon after about eight or nine hours of being out there," Mr. Scoville said. "All we did all day from sunup until then was stare at the sonar. When we first saw it, we didn't know for sure, but we knew it was a ship." After five or six more passes at the same location, he said, one went directly over the ship's mast. Mr. Kennard said that unlike their other shipwreck findings, there was no high-fiving or jumping up and down. Describing the moment as rather subdued, Mr. Kennard said that without knowing if it was definitely the HMS Ontario, they didn't want to get their hopes up. After reviewing video from a camera on Mr. Scoville's underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used to explore the ship, the pair celebrated their find. "We knew it was the Ontario because it had two crow's-nests on it," Mr. Scoville said. The crow's-nests, which served as lookout points, were found on each mast, at the same location as the pair on the British drawing of the HMS Ontario, Mr. Kennard said. Photographs and an 80-minute video also show the ship's intact cannon, masts, quarter galleries and the scroll bow stern, among other things. DISPUTED CLAIMS Because of the HMS Ontario's distinct features, Mr. Scoville and Mr. Kennard said people who claimed to have discovered the shipwreck before are wishful thinkers. "They're absolutely not credible," Mr. Scoville said. "I'm 100 percent sure those guys didn't find it. They've been writing up books saying they've found it, but one detail said the masts weren't there, yet they're sticking up almost 100 feet." Teams that have claimed to have discovered the lost ship also have never made a big splash of their supposed findings, or produced evidence of the underwater prize, he said. The discovery of the HMS Ontario is historic and needs to be shared so its story might unfold, he said. Backing Mr. Kennard and Mr. Scoville's claim is Mark L. Peckham, national register coordinator for the state Office of Historic Preservation. Mr. Peckham said that since the two men have very specific documentation, there is very little question about the validity of the ship's discovery. "There were no other vessels of this size and configuration," he said. "I don't think there's much question they located the Ontario. I think there was some wishful thinking before, and we really didn't take those kind of claims very seriously." WHO OWNS IT? Mr. Kennard and Mr. Scoville have no right of ownership of the wreck, since it's still technically under British ownership. Mr. Scoville said that despite a failed attempt to contact the National Maritime Museum of Britain, he's still almost certain that the British government wouldn't allow him or anyone else to touch the ship. The state of New York, Mr. Peckham said, is taking the position that the ship is property of the British government, so the Office of Historic Preservation is reluctant to get involved without formal consent. "The one role we would have is if the discoverers were to apply for a state permit to conduct further investigation on site through the New York State Museum," he said. WHAT COULD BE FOUND? Mr. Peckham said the best preservation of any ship is in cold, deep water. If the HMS Ontario were further explored, a number of items could be found. Gary M. Gibson, a Sackets Harbor resident who researches the history of ships in the Great Lakes, said that if the HMS Ontario is down deep, there actually may be skeletal remains inside the vessel. "As to what likelihood that is, depends on the circumstances of how it sank," he said. "If the ship was actually discovered and verified, it would be a classic example of warship construction of that era on the Great Lakes." Mr. Gibson said the sinking of the HMS Ontario was one of the biggest losses of life for that time period. The ship's crows nest is largely intact. | | James W. Kennard, left, and Daniel C. Scoville, both of Rochester, show Mr. Scoville's underwater remotely operated vehicle, which is used to explore shipwrecks such as the HMS Ontario. DIVING DUO The men are making every effort to protect the ship from irresponsible divers who would attempt to take artifacts from it. "We're happy the site location is not made public," Mr. Peckham said. "I don't even want to know. It would be extremely unfortunate if the site was disturbed. It's truly an important wreck." Describing the HMS Ontario as "one of the Holy Grails of shipwrecks," Mr. Kennard said he wouldn't be surprised if The History Channel or The Discovery Channel contacted him or his partner. The underwater explorers, who have worked together since 2002, have located seven ships in Lake Ontario, including the 140-year-old Canadian steamship Homer Warren in 2003. That ship was 25 miles off Rochester. The duo tries to find at least one shipwreck per year. Mr. Kennard, a retired electrical engineer from Eastman Kodak, Rochester, has been diving and exploring lakes in the Northeast since 1970 and has found more than 200 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain and the Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. "I became a scuba diver, and after scratching around on the bottom of the Finger Lakes, someone brought me up to a shipwreck in the St. Lawrence River," he said. Mr. Scoville described himself as a "technical diver" who uses custom gas mixtures of oxygen, helium and nitrogen to dive to depths greater than 300 feet. He is the project manager and electrical engineer for the ROV product line at Hydroacoustics Inc., Rochester. Roland "Chip" Stevens is a retired architect who joined the Kennard/Scoville team to create renderings of Lake Ontario shipwrecks, including the HMS Ontario. WHAT'S NEXT? After setting the bar high with such a historic discovery, Mr. Kennard and Mr. Scoville said they don't think they can top it. "Sadly, it's probably the best thing that I'm going to find in my lifetime," Mr. Scoville said. "The next thing we'll do is just keep looking for other ships in Lake Ontario. Nothing, however, would rival this one. It's going to be tough to beat." Mr. Scoville said their treasure is simply in the ship's history. Mr. Kennard added that searching for shipwrecks is essentially a hobby and "there's no money in a hobby, but it's kind of fun." The reward he and his partner get, Mr. Kennard said, is helping to disseminate historical information. After every shipwreck discovery, they put together an approximately 20-minute documentary and travel throughout the state and country sharing their stories. They also are planning an August dinner in Rochester where the public can attend to hear all about the HMS Ontario discovery. No specific details as to the time or place of the event have been decided. CYBER DIVER ALERT | Partners in crime: Grave robbers Leigh Bishop and Brad Sheard. Following the lead of dive industry-endorsed shipwreck looters Bishop and Sheard, scuba diving thieves around the world are destroying historically and culturally significant wrecks for bragging rights, coffee table displays and internet auction profits that amount to a fraction of the revenue shipwrecks can generate as fully protected underwater museums. FROM THE EDITORS OF CDNN Scuba looters around the world aggressively compete for bragging rights, product endorsements and profits from the sales of stolen artifacts that are now on a par with those from smuggling humans and drugs. "The vast majority of the global scuba diving community opposes shipwreck looting and underwater grave robbing," said CDS President Evan T. Allard. "Shipwrecks are part of our historical and cultural heritage. For scuba divers, shipwrecks are fascinating underwater museums that must be fully protected for our children, our grandchildren and all future generations of divers who will dive deeper and longer thanks to ongoing improvements in diving technology ," Allard added. "It is absolutely imperative that the global scuba diving community, archaeologists, coast guards, police and tax authorities act now to prevent Leigh Bishop, Brad Sheard, David Morton (of the Boston Sea Rovers) and other shipwreck looters from exploiting and destroying sunken ships for their personal coffee table displays, internet self-promotion schemes, commercial 'museum' profits and tax-evasion scams." If you have information pertaining to the theft and/or sale of wreck artifacts, or desecration of underwater grave sites by Leigh Bishop, Brad Sheard, organized crime gangs or anyone else, please contact CDNN immediately and your information will be passed along to appropriate authorities. REPORT SCUBA LOOTER |
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