General Butler
By Alyssa and Olivia
• Canal Boats are long, narrow boats used for transporting good •Canal boats didn’t last very long in bad weather, lots of canal boats are at the bottom of Lake Champlain because of the weather •Canal boats were built to transport goods from Vermont to New York through the canal witch was built in 1853
Parts of a Canal Boat Starboard Bow
Rudder
Stern Deck
port
Planking
Keel
•The General Butler, a sailing canal boat, was built in 862 in Essex, New York •The captain of the Boat was William Montgomery •Five passengers lived on the General Butler •The General Butler had three owners •After the boat sunk, scuba divers found lots of artifacts like cups, plates, and bottles on the boat
Lake Champlain
General Butler Shipwreck
The General Butler is located 75 yards south of the Burlington Breakwater in 40’ of water
Google Earth Satellite Image
Burlington Breakwater
•The General Butler was 14 years old when it sunk December 8, 1876. It was on its way to the Burlington Harbor •There was a huge storm and waves came crashing over the boat •There were five following passengers were on the boat: Captain William Montgomery, his daughter, Lucy, a friend of Lucy’s, James Wakefield, and his son, Jack •They were 1,000 feet away from the Burlington Harbor where they were saved
The General Butler is not the only shipwreck on Lake Champlain. There are over 300 shipwrecks! The Lake Champlain Underwater Historical Preserve protects some shipwrecks on the bottom of Lake Champlain. If the shipwrecks were raised they would fall apart. Unfortunately, zebra mussels are destroying the wrecks. The zebra mussels are living animals that eat wood off of a boat!
Picture of Zebra Mussel Taken from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Web Page June 16, 2009