HMS Ontario (1780)

Ontario
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Ontario
NamesakeLake Ontario
OwnerProvincial Marine
OperatorRoyal Navy
BuilderCarleton Island Dockyard
Laid downOctober 1779
Launched10 May 1780
Fate31 October 1780 sank in Lake Ontario during a storm
StatusShipwreck discovered in June, 2008 at more than 500 ft (150 m) depth
General characteristics
Class and typeSixth rate
Tons burthen226 tons[1]
Length80 ft (24 m)
Beam25 ft (7.6 m)
Sail planTwo-masted snow
Complement130 believed lost
Armament22 cannons
Schematic view of a snow, showing the snow-mast, a loose footed gaff sail and clewed up main course

HMS Ontario was a British warship that sank in a storm in Lake Ontario on 31 October 1780, during the American Revolutionary War.[2] She was a 22-gun snow, and, at 80 feet (24 m) in length, the largest British warship on the Great Lakes at the time.[2] The shipwreck was discovered in 2008. Ontario was found largely intact and very well preserved in the cold water. The wreck discoverers asserted that "the 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes."[2]

  1. ^ "Shipwreck Explorers Discover 1780 British Warship in Lake Ontario". Shipwreck World. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  2. ^ a b c William Kates (13 June 2008). "Explorers find 1780 British warship in Lake Ontario". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2008.