View Single Post
Old 02-25-2005, 11:35 PM   #1
Senter Cove Guy
Senior Member
 
Senter Cove Guy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 593
Thanks: 280
Thanked 427 Times in 139 Posts
Default Old Car Found In Winnipesaukee

In the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, I heard a story about a car that had gone through the ice in the 1930’s or 1940’s just off of Haley Point in the Northeast corner of Lake Winnipesaukee. As kids, we used to snorkel out there a lot but never saw a sunken car. I knew a fellow who had SCUBA dived to find the car in the early 1960's, but he didn’t find it.

After graduating from college, I continued to spend part of every summer in Melvin Village. I thought about the car every summer. I finally decided to become a certified SCUBA diver in 1980 so that I could rent diving equipment from the dive shop in Wolfeboro so I could dive to find the car. I became a certified SCUBA diver in May 1981 but did not actually dive to try and find the car until 1991. We were unsuccessful.

In 2002, I talked to people in Melvin Village who I thought might have some knowledge of the car. I found out that a man had drowned when the car went through the ice and was able to locate his grave. I obtained the man’s date of death and went to the Wolfeboro Library and looked at their microfilm copies of The Granite State News. I found an article about the drowning on the front page of the March 5, 1937 issue. This confirmed to me that the car had, indeed, gone through the ice on February 26, 1937. A woman passenger in the car was saved. The man’s body was recovered about 20 feet from the car by a hardhat diver the following day. The newspaper article said that the car was in 35 feet of water.

In 2003, again searching for information to help pinpoint the location of the car, I located and spoke to an eye-witness to the accident. After 66 years, she was unable to remember details of the accident.

In 2004, I finally decided to simply do some more diving to locate the car. I found the car on August 23, 2004. It is upright and sitting, slightly tilted front end down, in about 25 feet of water. The car still has some structure remaining but all of the top and the interior has rusted out. The two front headlights and radiator are in place. It is a 2-door Oldsmobile as identified by the radiator medallion and hubcaps. It has a 6 cylinder engine and spoke wheels. This information says that it is an Oldsmobile manufactured probably between the mid-1920’s to very early 1930’s.

February 26, 2017 marked the 80th anniversary of this local tragedy. Here are 3 links:

Underwater Car Pictures

1937 Granite State News Article

2004 Weirs Times Newspaper Article

See post #43 for a video taken in August 2013.
__________________
Lake Winni - The only place I want to be during the summer.

Last edited by Senter Cove Guy; 12-16-2019 at 07:55 AM. Reason: Fix links.
Senter Cove Guy is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Senter Cove Guy For This Useful Post: