Dear RIG:
The demise of the Lady of the Lake has been a talking point around our house for years. I personaly agree that the Lady while on her way to be scuttled did indeed sink on her own. Heres my proof.
First off, Glendale bay is not a smart place to scuttle a 120 foot ship. While she is in 30 feet of water (22' at the deck) she would not have to have drifted too far to block either passage, South or East, around Locks Island. It would be more prudent to sink her in the open waters just one half a mile away. There is also evidence in the Lady herself.
I have dived the wreck many times since the 70s. there are no holes drilled in the hull that I can find. I have searched both from the inside and outside of the wreck. Secondly she was ballasted with boulders (they are round and about five feet across) for her last voyage.
Since she was being towed to her resting place we can assume that this ballast was placed in a manner giving her a level keel. In the buisness we call this stability.
In the wreck the boulders are mostly in the stern of the vessel and whats more there are a few (four I think) actually outside of the wreck! Two of them are actually under the hull at the sternpost! There are no other rocks around the area at all. Just flat bottom. Those boulders had to come from the ship.
It seem more than possible to me that while being towed the ballast shifted aft putting her stern, where she had minimal bouyancy, under water. This caused the rest of the ballast to shift aft. The stern went down and the bow went up and some of the boulders rolled out of the open deck where the superstructure had been removed. These rocks sank faster than the hull and the Lady finially settled on top of two of the bolders.
So I propose to you, Madam historian that we all enjoy, that the Lady of the Lake chose her own resting place. I like that.
Misty Blue
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal
The following excerpt is taken from Farewell Old Mount Washington, by Edward H. Blackstone.
Following the completion of the building of Kimball’s Castle, the deck houses and superstructure were removed, with only the bare hull remaining.
On a fine Sunday morning in 1895, Maid of the Isles, which was under contract to the Boston and Main Railroad, and the Mineola were given orders to tow the hull to the deep part of the lake near Rattlesnake Island and sink her. Hawsers were attached to the hull and when all was ready the two boats, aided by a locomotive on the nearby railroad track, but a strain on the hawsers. The hull was soon water-borne and a load of heavy boulders, which had been brought alongside on a barge, was placed within it. When the hull had been towed clear of the cove, Maid of the Isles cast off her towline and left Mineola to tow the hull to the intended deep spot, open the sea-valves and let her sink.
As if in protest at this final indignity, the hull of the tired old Lady of the Lake decided to go no further. She lurched violently, taking a list to one side, and began to fill with water. Mineola hurriedly cast off her towline and all that remained of the Lady of the Lake settled to a last resting place in the steamboat lane opposite Glendale Cove.
|