The Phoenix

The Lake Champlain Steamboat Company began the construction of the lake's second steamboat at Vergennes, Vermont, in 1814. Launched in 1815, Phoenix was 146 feet long, has a displacement of 325 tons, and could reach a speed of 8 knots with her 45 horsepower engine.

Commanded by Captain Jehaziel Sherman, the steamer maintained a regular schedule of service, transporting people and freight between Whitehall, New York and St. Johns, Quebec, with stops at other lake ports along the route. On one occasion the Phoenix had the distinction of carrying President James Monroe.

On September 4,1819 Captain Sherman was ill, and thus the Phoenix made her final, fateful voyage under the command of Sherman's son Richard. Leaving Burlington at 11:00 in the evening for her next destination, Plattsburgh, the steamer headed across the lake with 46 passengers and crew (most of whom were fast asleep). An unusual glow in the amidships galley provided the first warning that a fire had broken out on board, but the discovery was made too late to save the Phoenix.

The passengers were rousted from their cabins in the after half of the ship and loaded into two small boats. Unfortunately, in the confusion a dozen people (including the captain) were left to fend for themselves on the burning ship. Sherman and several others were picked out of the lake in the morning, but six others were not so lucky and perished in the lake's cold, dark waters.

The cause of the fire was said to have been a candle carelessly left burning in the pantry; however, circumstantial evidence suggests that the fire may have been intentionally set by competing lake shippers. The abandoned hull drifted onto a reef off Colchester Point, and there burned to the waterline. The valuable engines and boiler were later removed and placed in a new steamboat, the Phoenix II. Winter ice probably dragged the remains of the Phoenix off of the reef and deposited the wreck in its present and final resting place on the north slope of Colchester Shoal.

Features of Interest on the Wreck:
- Size of Wreck: 146' long, 27' wide
- The fire-charred framing ends clearly show how the vessel was destroyed by fire and burned to the waterline; the massive hull is framed with oak timber.
- The bow, at the shallower (60') end of the dive, is prominent, jutting 15' out of the bottom.
- The rudder hardware is visible at the stern (110' depth) end.
- The iron rods which held the engines and boilers are visible in the central forward section.
- A large, square hole in the keelson, about 25' from the bow, is probably the mast step.