Hidden Treasures of Lake Ontario

(National Post, 9 July 2003)

by Liz Clayton

While many of us admire our sparkling lake from dry land, few would dare to plunge into its murky depths. But local divers know there's a treasure trove of exploration to be found just off the city's bustling shoreline.

Toronto's SCUBA enthusiasts are likely to be familiar with the region's popular dive spots in places like Kingston and Tobermory. But what many of us don't know is that there are wonderful shipwrecks right downtown in our own watery backyard. That’s right: down there among the e.coli and the industrial waste are hidden treasures, former cruisers of the high seas.

Toronto’s most famous shipwreck is the Sligo, a schooner barge which sank off the coast of Toronto in 1918 after going down in a storm. The Sligo was carrying rock to build the old King's Highway — Highway 2 — which was a predecessor to the QEW.

Discovered accidentally in 1980, the ship lies about two miles offshore roughly between the Humber Bay and the CN Tower, not far from the foot of Roncesvalles Ave. Divers are able to see some of the remaining cargo — rocks, mostly — and the ship’s hull remains in good shape.

Local diver Tom Wilson says the Sligo is “very easy to access,” though a diving boat is still required.

“There's enough down there to make it worthwhile,” says Wilson, who notes that some small, fragile-seeming instruments are still visible on the Sligo. “You'd think it would've been more damaged after sinking, and the storm. It's been down since 1918 but it' s managed to survive for a long time.”

Another ship, the Julia B. Merrill, rests nearby, about a football field away from the Sligo. The Merrill is the same style of ship as the Sligo — a bluff-bowed, squareish ship built to maximize cargo transport while being exactly the right size to squeeze through the Welland Canal. They are among the 600-800 ships built in the latter half of the nineteenth century as part of a federal ship building program, and are readily identifiable as such by their distinct shape.

The Julia B. Merrill's sinking is a bit more unusual than your ordinary storm-wrecking — she went down on purpose, as part of the popular public spectacle of ship burnings held by the CNE as entertainment during the Great Depression.

“A variety of these vessels were bought by CNE for the purposes of lighting them on fire for a spectacle,” says Kimberley Monk, a maritime archaeologist who has dived Toronto’s shipwrecks extensively. “People would watch from Sunnyside Park to see these once beautiful sailing ships, having since gone derilict, lit on fire. Especially in the late ‘20s and ‘30s, this was a major source of entertainment for Torontonians.”

Monk adds that many other ships were probably also wrecked — or burned — off Toronto’s coast. The Lyman Davis is just one of the other known ships, but there are likely more waiting to be discovered.

Diving conditions for the Merrill and the Sligo, the two most popular ship dives near the downtown area, are relatively hospitable. The relatively recent infiltration of zebra mussels into Lake Ontario has actually improved underwater visibility dramatically. Monk says anyone with an open water certification can peruse the wrecks, though they should be fans of cold water diving.

Wilson considers Toronto lucky to have two great wrecks to dive so close together. "You go down to places on Lake Erie and it's a three hour boat ride there, then a dive, and a three hour boat ride back," Wilson says. "There are supposedly all kinds of things in the area," he adds.

How lucky Toronto's divers are to have such a mysteries beneath their feet.