A.E. Vickery

AE Vickery

3d Image from Bob Sherwood Video.



Site:

Dive site since 1950's 
Location: Off Rock Island Light GPS: 44° 16.815'N, 76° 1.146'W 
Depth: 65 to 120 feet 
Bottom: Ledges, Very Strong Current 

Wreck:

Build Year: 1861 
Build City: Three Mile Bay, NY 
Vessel Type: Schooner 
Hull: Wood 
Builder: Asa Wilcox 
Propulsion: Sail (3) 
Length: 136 feet. 
Beam: 26 feet. 
Depth of hold: 11 feet. 
Tonnage: 383 
Date of loss: 8/15/1889 
Cause: Struck shoal  

The wreck of the A. E. Vickery is near Rock Island Light. The bow of Vickery is resting at the bottom of a 30 to 60 foot vertical rock wall. The hull runs at an angle from the wall down to a depth of 110 feet. On the deck at the bow is the windless, catheads and pawl post. An anchor chain is draped over the side with its anchor long removed by scuba divers. The large ships rails run down past the holds and mast stumps to the stern over where the rudder is at 110 feet. The two masts lie nearby and continue off into the channel to 155 feet with strong currents. 

History: 

On August 17, 1889, the three-masted wooden schooner A. E. Vickery struck the shoal above Rock Island Lighthouse while entering the American Narrows with a cargo of 21,000 bushels of corn destined for Wiser’s Distillery at Prescott, Ontario.