Lake Huron
Sweepstakes - Tobermory
Max Depth 20 ft
One of the first things that I have done as a newly minted private pilot was to fly to Tobermory and photograph the wrecks of Sweepstakes and City of Grand Rapids - the shot above is from that flight. Sweepstakes is a wreck well familiar to those who learned to dive in Ontario.
Built in 1867 in Burlington, Ontario, it was damaged off Cove Island then towed to Big Tub Harbour, where it sank in September 1885. Due to being so shallow and the location in protected bay, the Sweepstakes sees a lot of diver and snorkeller traffic and the Fathom Five National Marine Park has made repairs to the slowly deteriorating schooner to keep the deck from collapsing. The Park also put metal grates in the holds preventing access - this will preserve this wreck for a while longer.
