The General Butler

The GENERAL BUTLER was built in 1862 at the Essex, New York shipyard of Hoskins and Ross. This intact 88-foot hull is a rare example of a later-generation of commercial lake vessels, sailing canal boats. The schooner-rigged BUTLER was designed to sail on the lake and, with masts removed and centerboard raised, could also travel on the Champlain Canal, which connected the lake to the Hudson River.

On her last voyage she was under the command of her third owner, Captain William Montgomery of Isle LaMotte. It was December 9, 1876, very late in the navigation season, but the Captain set sail with a load of marble blocks destined for the Burlington marbleworks.

On board the doomed vessel was the Captain, a sailor, an injured man being taken to the hospital at Burlington and two young girls, one of whom was the Captain's daughter. As they sailed up the lake, a powerful winter gale struck and upon approaching Burlington, the BUTLER's steering mechanism broke. The Captain jury-rigged a tiller bar to the steering post (still visible) and attempted to maneuver his craft around the southern end of the Breakwater. The attempt was unsuccessful and the BUTLER struck the barrier. The force of the water was so great that the vessel was repeatedly lifted on top of the Breakwater. Each time the boat washed over the rough, ice-covered stones, one of the ship's company would make the perilous jump to the top of the Breakwater.

The Captain was the last to leave the ship and, by all accounts, he had no sooner landed on the Breakwater when the GENERAL BUTLER sank into the 40 feet of water where she now rests. Having narrowly escaped death by drowning, the BUTLER's survivors were now freezing to death on the drenched Breakwater. All surely would have perished had it not been for the heroic intervention of Burlington ship chandler James Wakefield and his young son, who rowed out in a 14 foot lighthouse boat and took all five to safety.They were all shortly pronounced out of danger, but the BUTLER was a total loss.

Her masts and rigging were removed, but the hull and her marble cargo were allowed to remain undisturbed on the lake bottom until 1980, when she was discovered. Since the BUTLER was located, she has been the subject of a multi-year program of in-water and archival study sponsored by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Champlain Maritime Society. In association with the State, the Society recovered and conserved selected artifacts from the hull. These are presently on display in the Lighthouse at the Shelburne Museum.

Features of Interest:
- Size of Wreck: 88' long, 14' wide ""*
- She rests on her keel, bow towards the Breakwater; there are five hatches in the deck, three for loading cargo and one small forward hatch; the large hatch in the stern enters the multi-purpose living area; marble blocks from one of the Isle LaMotte quarries are visible in the hold.

(DO NOT PENETRATE THE WRECK.) - The jury rigged, emergency tiller bar, chained to the steering gear, shows how the vessel got into trouble and how the Captain attempted to restore steerage.
- Dead-eyes indicate where sailing rigging was secured at various points on the vessel.
- The windlass in the bow, in conjunction with the adjacent series of cleats, was used for lowering and raising anchors.
- For easy lowering when passing through the canal, her two masts were stepped on deck between two heavy posts and held in place by an iron pin and iron band; the forward mast support still contains the stump of one of the masts; the second mast is entirely gone although the iron retaining pin is still visible in its mast support.