Details
TYPE: schooner
Material: wood
Propulsion: Sail
Cargo: Limestone
Built by / at: Louis Shickluna, St. Catharine
Built / lauch date: 1860
Sunk / flooded: September 5th, 1918
Dimensions: 138 ft x 23 ft x 11.8 ft
Position: Upright
Sitting in the outer harbour of Toronto in 70′ of water (at the maximum), this is a great dive to do after work and almost within arms reach of Toronto’s CN Tower and Rogers Center stadium.
The Sligo was originally built as a three-masted barque (a type of schooner) and was used as an ocean-going vessel before being converted into a schooner barge. She took on water during a storm and either broke loose or was cut loose by her crew to allow the tug to make it back to shore.
This dive features 15′-40′ of visibility. The wooden-stock anchor is still inside the bow on the port side just beside the windlass. Twenty feet off the stern lies her signature piece: the wheel, with a short length of steering gear below it keeping it propped up off the bottom.
A boiler towards the bow of the wreck has a thin glass tube that looks like a level-indicator (see lower-right photo) which is a rarity, especially after 88 years on the bottom.
Departures
Tuesday and Thursdays 5:30 and 7:30
$35.00 per person – one tank dive.
Call to book 416-322-7066
Group bookings welcome.
Other days /times available with minimum 6 divers.
Details
Build: 1872
Location: Humber Bay, Toronto, Canada
Depth: 54 feet
Built: 1872
Sunk: 1931
Length: 125 feet
Access: boat
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Orientation: Upright
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. Burned, and sank, for the entertainment of the masses gathered on Sunnyside beach, in 1931. Most of the hull remains, as well as some of the masts, a mast hole, the centre board box, some rigging, the rudder, the keelson, strapping, donkey boiler, several pulleys, and what could potentially be part of the bowsprit.
Departures
Tuesday and Thursdays 5:30 and 7:30
$35.00 per person – one tank dive.
Call to book 416-322-7066
Group bookings welcome.
Other days /times available with minimum 6 divers.
Details
Build: Schooner
Location: Toronto Harbour
Depth: 148′
Length: 123′
Built: 1873 – Muskegon, Michigan
Sunk: Intentional – June 29, 1934
Access: Boat
Level: Technical
Lyman M. Davis is believed to have been the last great lakes’ schooner in commercial use. She was built in 1873, last operated in 1933, and intentionally burned in 1934 just off Sunnyside beach.
Departures
Tuesday and Thursdays 5:30 and 7:30
$35.00 per person – one tank dive.
Call to book 416-322-7066
Group bookings welcome.
Other days /times available with minimum 6 divers.
(Jan to March only) Charter a 24′ Airboat to dive the St. Lawrence / Kingston wrecks. Contact us for schedule and pricing.
Winter: (January - March)
Airboat Charters — Ice diving in the St. Lawrence River/Kingston from an airboat.
Summer/Fall: (June - November)
Toronto dive charters — We currently run dive charters to wrecks local to the Toronto area on our 24' Zodiac. Any Toronto divers interested in diving the Sligo, Merrill or Davies see our Dive Charter schedule
Charter our Toronto based 24' Airboat or join a weekend PADI Ice Diver Course.
Give us a call at 416-322-7066 or email at charters@greatlakeswrecks.com