The mystery surrounding a shipwreck in Owen Sound has been solved.
Construction crews were busy on Wednesday working on improvements at the sewage treatment plant in Owen Sound. The city's director of operations, Ken Becking, says the $48 million project is moving along smoothly, but there was a surprise two weeks ago, when a shipwreck was discovered beside the plants outflow pipe 200 meters from shore.
An underwater investigation led to the discovery of the ghostly wreckage in just six meters of water.
“We believe it's the Dan Proctor, which was a three masted schooner that was built in Bay City Michigan,” says Becking. “It was purchased by a local company. It was converted into a barge and we understand that when the barge was no longer required, it was canalized formal of its equipment then scuttled.”
While investigating the wreck with side scan sonar, contractors discovered the remains of two more vessels on the bottom of the bay, about 90 meters south of the original wreck.
So far the wrecks have not been positively identified, but Becking says one of the ships was also a schooner that dates back to the 1860's
“The third vessel is more of a mystery at this point in time. We are still pickings away at that.”
Joe Fryer is a diving instructor in Owen Sound and is familiar with what he calls the “east side wrecks” that he explored 15 years ago. He expects that more divers will want to come and see them once upgrades are complete at the sewage treatment plant.
“It was quite a few years ago at the time it was mostly ribs, at the time the sewage treatment plant was letting go, so we could only see a little bit that day, but it looked like a nice wreck by the size of it,” says Fryer.
The city is working on documenting the wrecks so they will be protected by the under Ontario Heritage Act. Plans are also underway to modify the new out flow pipes at the plant so the wrecks will not be disturbed by construction.
