Tobermory · Canada · Wreck · Freshwater

Sweepstakes

An 1867 schooner hull still intact in 6 m of harbour water

Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sweepstakes is a two-masted schooner of 1867 lying in 6 m of water in Big Tub Harbour, and her hull is almost completely intact — one of the best preserved nineteenth-century Great Lakes schooners. It is a short, shallow dive that works as well on a snorkel as on a tank, and the wreck is fragile enough that the park has made repairs to keep the deck from collapsing.

Where it is and how deep

Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

45.2552° N, 81.6809° WPublished position for this site.

Site maps published elsewhere

Tobermory dive sites interactive map · Dive Life Tobermory

The dive

Drop in over the mooring and the whole vessel is laid out below you in 6 m of water, close enough to the surface to read without a torch on a bright day. The hull is almost completely intact and clearly defined, so the dive is less about finding wreckage than about following a shape: the bow, the deck line running aft, and the stern where the aft deck has collapsed in on itself.

Work forward along the deck to the windlass, which is still in place on the main deck, and past the large rectangular openings that mark where the two masts once stood. Bass and salmon hang around the timbers. Keep clear of the deck openings themselves — this is a hull the park has had to make repairs to, not one to swim inside.

The wreck

Vessel: Sweepstakes
Type: Two-masted wooden schooner
Length: 36.3 m (119 ft)
Built: 1867
Sunk: 1885
Cause: Struck a reef near Cove Island, was towed into Big Tub Harbour and sank there
Lies: Almost completely intact on the harbour floor at 6 m, with the aft deck collapsed

Sweepstakes was built at Burlington, Ontario in 1867 and worked until September 1885, when she struck a reef near Cove Island and was towed into Big Tub Harbour, where she sank. She is described as one of the best preserved nineteenth-century Great Lakes schooners, and that preservation is actively managed: the park has made repairs to the slowly deteriorating schooner to keep the deck from collapsing.

Marine life and season

Freshwater fish

Month-by-month season rating for Sweepstakes
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Off-season	Off-season	Off-season	Off-season	Fair	Good	Good	Good	Good	Fair	Off-season	Off-season

Season follows Tobermory: Public charters run May to October; the water is coldest in February and March and warmest in August.

Know before you go

Conditions in the harbour can change quickly with wind direction; carry a light, SMB and compass even on a dive this shallow.
The water is cold fresh water all season, so proper exposure protection matters, and the deck openings are overhead features to stay clear of unless you are trained for them.

Photos from Sweepstakes

Robert Taylor from Stirling, ON, Canada · CC BY 2.0
CampCrazy Photography · CC BY-SA 2.0
CampCrazy Photography · CC BY-SA 2.0

Dive videos

The Sweepstakes Shipwreck - Tobermory Ontario Canada · eworosz on YouTube

Questions divers ask

How deep is the Sweepstakes wreck?+

The hull sits in about 6 m of water in Big Tub Harbour — shallow enough to snorkel over on a calm day, and an easy dive on a tank for anyone with an Open Water card.

Do you have to be a diver to see Sweepstakes?+

No. At 6 m the wreck is shallow enough that snorkellers can take in the shape of her from the surface — the operator rates the site for beginners and snorkellers alike. Divers get the detail: the windlass still in place on the main deck and the openings where the masts stood.