Historic Lake George - Underwater

 Courtesy of Bob Benway of Bateaux Below, Inc.

The colonial bateau is a workhorse type of watercraft used to transport men and supplies over inland waterways such as rivers and lakes.  Typically about 30 feet long and pointed at both ends, they were mostly rowed but could also be poled and if the wind was favorable, sailed.  Usually constructed of pine planks and oak frames, they were relatively easy to build and did not require highly skilled boat builders.  Their flat bottoms allowed them to carry heavy loads in shallow waters.  The British used over 900 bateaux (pl.) to transport their army on Lake George in the unsuccessful 1758 campaign against the French and almost the same number the following year, which resulted in the French defeat.  In the fall of 1758, the British intentionally sank 260 bateaux in Lake George with plans to retrieve them in the spring.  By sinking them, the enemy could not find and destroy them.  This was a lesson they had learned the hard way because in 1756, French forces burned many hundreds of bateaux that were neatly stacked up on the shore in front of Fort William Henry.  In 1960, two scuba divers found a cluster of bateaux in front of Hall’s Marina, this discovery received national attention and with New York State’s permission, three of them were removed from the lake and preserved with polyethylene glycol for future display.  Throughout the years since the initial discovery, many more bateaux have been found in the lake, remnants of the fleet that the British had put there almost 250 years ago.  Their iron fastenings that have been exposed to the water have long since deteriorated and the side planks have fallen away leaving decay resistant oak frames protruding up through the silt, the only indication that a well preserved hull section lies hidden beneath the protective layer of mud.  Today, scuba divers can visit a 7-vessel cluster that lies offshore of the Wiawaka Holiday House as part of New York State’s Submerged Heritage Preserves, literally a dive into history to see a part of our military past that would never have survived till today on dry land.