Jarred & Cameron
Steamboats carried people and goods from one place to another. They were powered by fire. Steamboats were invented in the late 1700`s and the early 1800`s. Steamboats were the fastest boats on Lake Champlain with a speed of 5 miles per hour. People were afraid travel on steamboats since they were powered by fire. The Titanic was a steamboat.
The Oakes Ames was built for transferring railroad cars from Montreal, Plattsburgh, and Rutland Railroad at Marks Bay, Burlington, Vermont. It was sold three times with an original cost of $85,000. The last time it was sold to the Champlain Transportation Company where it was converted to a passenger vessel. An additional $24,000 in repairs was spent. The total cost was $109,000! The name was renamed to CHAMPLAIN II even though it was very superstitious.
…Weight: 1145 tons …Final Disposition: Westport 1875 …Cost: $109,000 …Captain: George Rushlow …Built: 1866 at Marks Bay, Burlington …Length: 258 feet …Beam: 35 feet
New York Vermont
The shipwreck lies close to the New York shore between Barn Rock and Rock Harbor, north of Westport, NY, and across from Basin Harbor Lake Champlain
The Champlain II left Westport, New York on a dark and cold night with Captain Rushlow at the wheel. He went to his cabin to sleep and was awoken by a crash. He fell out of bed.
The captain marched to the room with the wheel to see his First Mate asleep in the captain’s chair. He had taken morphine for Gout and was out like a light. The captain asked for his license. “That would be fine if I had one.” The First Mate was arrested.
Our class traveled to the Maritime Museum and boarded the Escape, a ferry to see the s\Champlain II. We learned a lot. Did you know the Champlain II carried 16 railroad cars?
A rover named Bob dove and took video footage of the Champlain II. He also made it more colorful by turning on his lights. The captain of the Escape operated the remote control which controlled Bob.