General Butler

By Alyssa and Olivia

• Canal Boats are long, narrow boats used for transporting good

•Canal boats didn’t last very long in bad weather, lots of canal boats are at the bottom of Lake Champlain because of the weather

•Canal boats were built to transport goods from Vermont to New York through the canal witch was built in 1853

Parts of a Canal Boat

DeckKeelPlanking

RudderBow

Stern

Starboard

port

•The General Butler, a sailing canal boat, was built in 862 in Essex, New York

•The captain of the Boat was William Montgomery

•Five passengers lived on the General Butler

•The General Butler had three owners

•After the boat sunk, scuba divers found lots of artifacts like cups, plates, and bottles on the boat

Lake Champlain

General Butler Shipwreck

The General Butler is located 75 yards south of the Burlington Breakwater in 40’ of water

Burlington Breakwater

Google Earth Satellite Image

•The General Butler was 14 years old when it sunk December 8, 1876. It was on its way to the Burlington Harbor

•There was a huge storm and waves came crashing over the boat

•There were five following passengers were on the boat: Captain William Montgomery, his daughter, Lucy, a friend of Lucy’s, James Wakefield, and his son, Jack

•They were 1,000 feet away from the Burlington Harbor where they were saved

The General Butler is not the only shipwreck on Lake Champlain. There are over 300 shipwrecks!

The Lake Champlain Underwater Historical Preserve protects some shipwrecks on the bottom of Lake Champlain. If the shipwrecks were raised they would fall apart. Unfortunately, zebra mussels are destroying the wrecks. The zebra mussels are living animals that eat wood off of a boat!

Picture of Zebra Mussel Taken from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Web Page June 16, 2009