2020 Project
Seneca Lake Archaeological Survey (New York)
Art Cohn (Lake Champlain Maritime Museum/INA)
The Seneca Lake Survey, coinciding with the commemoration of New York’s Canal Bicentennial, is a part of the state’s effort to refine their management approach to underwater cultural heritage. Seneca Lake was connected to three different 19th-century canals, and is thought to contain a significant collection of shipwrecks from this period. In 2018, as a demonstration of the lake’s archaeological potential, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum staff initiated an underwater survey designed to discover the canal boat Frank Bowley, which sank in 1869. A total of eight intact canal-era shipwrecks were found. Remarkably, an additional eight intact canal-era shipwrecks were discovered in 2019.