The second oldest confirmed shipwreck in the Great Lakes, an American sloop built in 1798, was discovered in August in deep water off Oswego, in central New York. Carrie Sowden, alumna of the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M, is the archaeological director at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio, which sponsored the explorations. An ROV survey confirmed that the remains belong to the Washington, which sank during a storm in 1803. The sloop was designed for the transportation of people and commercial goods between western New York, Pennsylvania, and Ontario. The Washington is the oldest commercial sailing vessel found in the Great Lakes, and its study will contribute to our understanding of the design and construction of sailing vessels used on the Great Lakes during the turbulent period between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
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