The steamboat Oakes Ames was built in 1868 by the Napoleon B Proctor Shipyard in Burlington, Vermont for the

Rutland Railroad The Rutland Railroad was a railroad in the northeastern United States, located primarily in the state of Vermont but extending into the state of New York at both its northernmost and southernmost ends. After its closure in 1961, parts of the ...

. The 244-foot paddle wheeler was designed to ferry railroad cars from Burlington across

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

to Plattsburgh, New York. She was named after one of the railroad's directors'

Oakes Ames Oakes Ames (January 10, 1804 – May 8, 1873) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. As a congressman, he is credited by many historians as being ...

. She successfully trialed on 19 August 1868 and her maiden excursion ran the next day to Willsboro Bay, Plattsburg. Mr. Ames went onward to Montreal for a review of the railroad's assets. In 1874, the ship was renamed and repurposed for passenger service as the ''Champlain II''. The following year, on July 16, 1875, the ship was wrecked when it ran aground after drifting off course while being guided by a pilot under the influence of

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

. A salvage operation shortly afterwards removed much of the superstructure, leaving about a third of the wreck in place. ''See also:'' The site is now an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

located in Lake Champlain near Westport in

Essex County, New York Essex County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,381. Its county seat is the hamlet of Elizabethtown. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Essex is one of only 2 counties that are ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1997.

References

Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, New York Shipwrecks of New York (state) Essex County, New York Shipwrecks in lakes Paddle steamers of the United States Maritime incidents in July 1875 {{EssexCountyNY-NRHP-stub