{"id":312994,"date":"2025-11-28T20:52:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312994\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T20:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:52:23","slug":"lake-erie-shipwreck-spotted-off-kingsville-ont-uncovered-by-strong-winds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312994\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Erie shipwreck spotted off Kingsville, Ont., uncovered by strong winds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Strong winds that prompted an Environment Canada alert this week have laid bare Lake Erie shoreline not often seen. <\/p>\n

But they also \u2014 briefly \u2014 uncovered a rarely-seen shipwreck. <\/p>\n

Matt Vermette is the owner of The Dive Shop in Kingsville, Ont., and was out for a walk Wednesday night when he spotted something from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just really cool. I saw some birds sitting on a structure. I thought, oh, maybe it’s an old dock or something, right. And as I got closer, I said, \u2018no, that’s, that’s definitely a shipwreck.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It was about 150 metres out from shore, and about 22 metres long, Vermette estimated, also noting it\u2019s a schooner because of the distinct \u201cskeleton\u201d of the wreck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | Shallow water levels unearth Lake Erie shipwreck:\"\"<\/p>\n

Shallow water levels unearth shipwreck on Lake Erie<\/p>\n

Low water levels caused by high winds have revealed a piece of history. Take a look at this shipwreck on Lake Erie near Kingsville.<\/p>\n

Even though he scuba dives often, it was a wreck he\u2019d never seen, and there are many on Lake Erie. Vermette estimated at least a couple hundred, though there are maybe 20 or 30 that are commonly known.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ARobert Lynch is a local historian who says the water around Kingsville can be hazardous for boats, leading to many wrecks in the area. (Leandra Vermeulen\/CBC)<\/p>\n

It’s not clear which vessel the wreck could be. Historians Vermette spoke with think it could be one of two possible wrecks: The Demming, or the Overton, both wrecks documented in local newspapers from the time and both dating back to before 1900.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robert Lynch, a local historian, says the wreck has been exposed before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis end of (Lake Erie), Pigeon Bay it\u2019s called, is fairly shallow but it does generate very high waves \u2026 If you happen to be passing over top of a reef when your boat is riding down into the hollow of a wave, you can hit bottom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can create havoc for ships. So more shipwrecks are in this portion of the lake than the rest of the lake.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vermette posted photos and video to Facebook, where he says people are equally excited and eager for more information about the wreck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kingsville resident Jennifer Wright says she went out looking for the wreck on Thursday afternoon after seeing pictures of it posted on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess a whole bunch of us are out trying to find it \u2026 I don\u2019t see it,\u201d Wright said with a laugh. \u201cThe water has come in and covered it back up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in the right place at the right time. Lucky guy, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vermette agreed. By Thursday morning, the water had come back in and the structure was long underwater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The wreck is one you’re not likely to see if you were out diving in the area, according to Vermette. Because of the amount of mud, visibility is very limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’ll see it right before you hit it. But to be able to walk around it and get those videos and to take the pictures I did, you wouldn’t get those pictures underwater,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it was clear, it wouldn’t be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-312994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}