Champlain II is an underwater archaeological site in Lake Champlain near Westport, New York, preserving part of a 19th-century steamboat first built as the Oakes Ames in 1868 at Burlington, Vermont. Constructed for the Rutland Railroad, the 244-foot paddle wheeler carried railroad cars across the lake between Burlington and Plattsburgh before being renamed Champlain II in 1874 and converted to passenger service. That second career ended quickly when the vessel ran aground and wrecked on July 16, 1875, after drifting off course under a pilot impaired by morphine. The remaining wreck is significant for its insight into steam navigation and railroad transport on Lake Champlain.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Essex, New York · USA