Site:
Known dive site since 1950s
Location: Washington Island
GPS: 44° 14.629'N, 76° 4.853'W 
Depth: 10 – 15 Feet
Bottom: Mud
Wreck:
Year built: unknown
Built at: unknown
Vessel Type: Schooner
Hull: wood
Builder Name: unknown
Propulsion: Sail
Length: 99 feet.
Beam: 30 feet.
Depth of hold: unknown
Tonnage: unknown
Date of loss: Before 1874
Cause: unknown
The wreck is the remains of a very old sailing
grain carrier sunk prior to 1860. Its remains
are in a much deteriorated state. Only the
lower portion of the hull remains with some
of its planking and keelson. It lies in very
shallow water between Washington Island
and the old Frink Snowplow Factory on the
east corner of the Village of Clayton.
History:
The 1876 St. Lawrence River Chart No 6,
drawn by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
listed a wreck off Washington Island in the
lower bay at Clayton, N.Y. In his journal,
Clayton, N.Y. Captain Capt. Wilber J.
Vincent (4/8/1840 - 4/12/1923), listed his
first command assignment as the captain of
the schooner Elk in early 1873. He notes that
later that year he was reassigned to the
schooner Belle Mitchell. An article in the
March 5, 1874 Watertown Re-Union
newspaper mentions the intent to try to raise
and haul out onto Washington Island the
schooner Elk in the spring when the ice is
out. Late nineteenth century paintings of the
lower bay at Clayton show frames and ribs
protruding from the water where the wreck
lies today.