Brockville · Canada · Wreck · Freshwater
Robert Gaskin
An 1889 salvage barge with her lifting pulleys still aboard
Area photo: Tutku Çetinel · CC BY 3.0
A wooden barge that sank in 1889 while lifting the wrecked train ferry William Armstrong, taking her salvage gear down with her. She lies upright about 120 m offshore with her bow at 18 m and her stern at 21 m, a buoyed wreck in a gentle current with a hull that stands clear of the bottom and a hold divers can swim through.
Where it is and how deep
44.5893° N, 75.6771° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The descent down the bow mooring line is the best introduction the site has: her hull rises some 4.5 m off the river bottom, so the whole barge is standing clear rather than sunk into the silt. The bow sits at about 18 m and the stern at 21 m, with a gentle current running across the deck — this is one of the few wrecks on this stretch where you can stop and look at something twice.
Divers can go down through the hold and out via the stern hole without difficulty. Looking into the forward hold you will see the massive steel drums that held her chain and rope, and at the ends of the deck timbers are the pulleys used to lift the Armstrong — the salvage rig that was rigged and working on the day she went down.
She sits on a firm bottom with light silt, roughly 120 m off shore with her bow facing inland, and the whole wreck can be covered comfortably in one dive. The mooring buoy is maintained by the local S.O.S. chapter, and the site is close enough to the north side of the main shipping channel that a flag and a watchful boat matter more than the diving does.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Robert Gaskin
- Type
- Two-masted iron-rigged wooden barge
- Length
- 34 m (112 ft)
- Built
- 1863
- Sunk
- 1889
- Cause
- Holed near the bow by a salvage pontoon that broke loose and shot to the surface
- Lies
- Upright on a firm, lightly silted bottom, bow facing inland, bow at 18 m and stern at 21 m
Robert Gaskin was built at Kingston, Ontario in 1863 by Charles W. Jenkings as a double-masted, iron-rigged wooden vessel. She struck a shoal and sank under sail, was salvaged, and came back with her masts and rigging removed as a cargo barge. In September 1889 she was working to recover the wrecked train ferry William Armstrong when a pontoon being pumped full of steam broke loose, shot to the surface and struck her near the bow; the hole was large enough that she sank in minutes, with no loss of life. Salvors later raised her to just below the surface, but the ropes broke while she was being pulled toward shore and she went down for the third time.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Off-season | Off-season |
Season follows Brockville: May–Oct is the season, with the clearest water in late autumn; the river ices over and charters stop entirely in winter.
Know before you go
- The wreck sits near the north side of the main shipping channel in a high-traffic area of smaller boats: fly a dive flag, and use a chase boat if you plan to drift off the wreck.
- The bottom carries light silt and the hold is swum through to the stern hole, so hold trim and avoid kicking the floor up in front of the divers behind you.
Dive videos
SCUBA Dive - Robert Gaskin Wreck, Brockville, ON, Canada · MOD218 on YouTube
SCUBA - Shore dive to Robert Gaskin Wreck, Brockville · MOD218 on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Can less experienced divers dive the Robert Gaskin?+
The operator rates the site novice. It is buoyed, the current across the deck is gentle and the deepest point is 21 m, but it sits in a high-traffic area of small boats near the main shipping channel, so a dive flag and a chase boat matter.
What is left of the salvage gear?+
The pulleys used to lift the train ferry William Armstrong are still at the ends of the deck timbers, and the forward hold holds the massive steel drums that carried her chain and rope.
Sources
- Robert Gaskin — Dive Brockville — Dive Brockville Adventure Centre
- Robert Gaskin — Wikipedia
- Diving in Canada — Wikivoyage
In The Logbook
- Freshwater diving: lakes, springs and quarriesFreshwater · 15 min read
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