The Marysburgh Vortex is an area of eastern

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

with a history of shipwrecks during the age of sail and steam which has encouraged

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs an ...

s and comparisons to the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under myster ...

. The name describes an area whose three corners are Wolfe Island, Mexico Bay near

Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port Ci ...

, and Point Petre in

Prince Edward County, Ontario Prince Edward County (PEC) is a municipality in southern Ontario, Canada. Its coastline on Lake Ontario’s northeastern shore is known for Sandbanks Provincial Park, sand beaches, and limestone cliffs. The Regent Theatre, a restored Edwardian ...

. As many as 500 ships and 40 aircraft have been lost in the vortex. Although many legends suggest mysterious circumstances for the sinkings, historical writers have attributed the area's record of shipping disasters to conventional maritime hazards such as bad weather, shifting cargoes, fires, submerged reefs exposed during periods of low water levels, and compass errors due to natural geomagnetic anomalies.

History

Ships lost in the area are said to number at least 100, including the vessels ''Bavaria'' (1889), ''

George A. Marsh The ''George A. Marsh'' was a three-masted schooner built in Michigan City Indiana in 1882 as a lumber carrier. In 1914, the Marsh was sold to a Belleville, Ontario man as a coal carrier. The ''Marsh'' met her demise on August 8, 1917, when s ...

'' (1917), ''Eliza Quinlan'' (1883) and ''Star of Suez'' (1964). The term "Marysburgh Vortex" was coined by Toronto writer Hugh F. Cochrane in his 1980 book ''Gateway To Oblivion'' in which he proposed "an unknown invisible vortex of forces" as the cause of the maritime disasters, however reviewers criticized Cochrane's work, saying, "His own reconstructed accounts of accidents are the worst kind of speculative history of the "you are there" variety". Because of the relatively large number of sunken wrecks in Lake Ontario, the area within the Marysburgh Vortex is popular with recreational divers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marysburgh Vortex Maritime folklore Lake Ontario