LAND TORTOISE wreck
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:29 pm
The autumn of 1758 saw Britain and France locked in a struggle for empire. Following the loss of Fort William Henry in 1757, the allied British, Iroquois and American provincials suffered a devastating defeat in their assault on Fort Carillon (later named Fort Ticonderoga) in July 1758. Undeterred, the British and their allies constructed new fortifications and warships, including two radeaux to serve as floating gun batteries to dislodge the French from Lake George and Lake Champlain. One of these was the LAND TORTOISE.
The LANDT TORTOISE appears to be the sole survivor of a class of military vessels unique to Lake George and Lake Champlain in the eighteenth century. Constructed in 1758 by provincial troops under the supervision of Captain Samuel Cobb, the radeau (French for raft) was just over 50 feet long and 16 to 18 feet wide. The flat-bottomed vessel was propelled by 26 oars. The LAND TORTOISE has seven cannon ports in her sides and her angular lines and sloping bulwarks protected her crew from enemy fire. Never fully rigged out, the radeau lacks masts, artillery and other hardware.
The construction of the LAND TORTOISE and its deliberate sinking to store it underwater are described in soldiers' journals. The soldiers worked hard into the night of October 22, 1758 to sink the LAND TORTOISE. It settled in much deeper water than intended and was not recovered the following spring. Another radeau, the INVINCIBLE, had to be built by the British for the 1759 campaign.
The fate of the LAND TORTOISE was unknown until 1990, when its peculiar seven-sided shape appeared during a side-scan sonar survey of the lake by members of a group that later became known as Bateaux Below, Inc. Archaeological and historical research identified the vessel as an eighteenth century radeau. From 1991 to 1994, the LAND TORTOISE was studied by a team of volunteer divers under the direction of a professional archaeologist. In 1995, the LAND TORTOISE shipwreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1998, the LAND TORTOISE was listed as a National Historic Landmark, only the sixth shipwreck in the nation with that designation. It also has been designated by the Smithsonian Institution as "the oldest intact war vessel in North America."
This site is located in the south basin, nearly two miles north of Lake George Beach, and the wreck is in a depth of 105 to 107 feet.
Turks & Caicos Islands 1996 60c sg?, scott1194h
http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5076.html
The LANDT TORTOISE appears to be the sole survivor of a class of military vessels unique to Lake George and Lake Champlain in the eighteenth century. Constructed in 1758 by provincial troops under the supervision of Captain Samuel Cobb, the radeau (French for raft) was just over 50 feet long and 16 to 18 feet wide. The flat-bottomed vessel was propelled by 26 oars. The LAND TORTOISE has seven cannon ports in her sides and her angular lines and sloping bulwarks protected her crew from enemy fire. Never fully rigged out, the radeau lacks masts, artillery and other hardware.
The construction of the LAND TORTOISE and its deliberate sinking to store it underwater are described in soldiers' journals. The soldiers worked hard into the night of October 22, 1758 to sink the LAND TORTOISE. It settled in much deeper water than intended and was not recovered the following spring. Another radeau, the INVINCIBLE, had to be built by the British for the 1759 campaign.
The fate of the LAND TORTOISE was unknown until 1990, when its peculiar seven-sided shape appeared during a side-scan sonar survey of the lake by members of a group that later became known as Bateaux Below, Inc. Archaeological and historical research identified the vessel as an eighteenth century radeau. From 1991 to 1994, the LAND TORTOISE was studied by a team of volunteer divers under the direction of a professional archaeologist. In 1995, the LAND TORTOISE shipwreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1998, the LAND TORTOISE was listed as a National Historic Landmark, only the sixth shipwreck in the nation with that designation. It also has been designated by the Smithsonian Institution as "the oldest intact war vessel in North America."
This site is located in the south basin, nearly two miles north of Lake George Beach, and the wreck is in a depth of 105 to 107 feet.
Turks & Caicos Islands 1996 60c sg?, scott1194h
http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5076.html