Lake Champlain was the site of several naval battles during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The general consensus had been that it was best to keep shipwrecks in the lake because the cold clean water helped to preserve them. But invasive species and climate change are increasing the risk of deterioration and some are calling for the vessels to be removed from the lake. The current focus is on the Spitfire, which sank after a Revolutionary War battle. But raising it could take decades and millions of dollars.
The Spitfire is a gunboat that sank when the Americans retreated after the Battle of Valcour Bay on October 11, 1776. In 1997, a survey team from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum found the gunboat on the lake bottom in pristine condition.
The Clinton County Historical Association hosted a recent talk by Lake Champlin Maritime Museum Director Emeritus Art Cohn on efforts to raise the Spitfire from the lakebed.
“I was in this room seven years ago to announce our first level of concepts, of thoughts, about how we best preserve this boat,” recalled Cohn. “I was part of the team that discovered the Spitfire 27 years ago. And unlike probably your imagination that oh on the day he discovered the boat they were jumping all over the place and opening the champagne, I can tell you it was the opposite of that. It was a sobering reality that had to be taken care of, managed in the best possible way we knew how to do that. The Spitfire is really right in the middle of an evolving societal issue. Who gets to manage these shipwrecks and how do we best preserve them for this and future generations?”
One attendee felt if the Spitfire is raised it should remain in the community to help increase tourism and historical awareness. Cohn said while that is not the primary reason to remove it from the lake water, it is a substantial secondary purpose.
“That’s not why we would do it, but I think that’s important to look at that,” Cohn said. “This boat fought at the Battle of Valcour Island under the command of Benedict Arnold with a cast of characters that are important to understand. So I think there’s some really high values to be served there.”
The project to raise the Spitfire began in 2017. Outside the venue before he began his presentation, Cohn explained that a 22-year timetable and estimated $44 million cost have not changed.
“Some of the logistics have changed to make it easier,” noted Cohn. “New York has expressed an interest in possibly taking a leadership role. And so it’s actually consolidated some of the issues for us. And so I think that’s part of the new examination that we’re having at this time.”
Cohn says he has been doing nautical archaeology for over 40 years and until now has never recommended that a boat be recovered from the lake’s waters.
“For most of my career I’ve been very vocal about leave them where they are unless there’s a compelling reason to talk about disturbing them. Leave them in situ. That’s the best option. We built replicas so that we didn’t have to raise originals,” said Cohn. “By the same token based on the environmental changes and it’s driven by now that we have invasive mussels in Lake Champlain. We’ve done a study. We can predict that those mussels will encrust this boat and they will degrade it. So we’ve got a little bit of a window to plan.”
Cohn adds they are reviewing other shipwreck projects and the engineering required to successfully raise the Spitfire.
“It’s a Champlain Valley project,” asserts Cohn. “New York, Vermont and Quebec sort of working together. We have a network of historic sites from Chambly to Saratoga and every place in between. We think that it will empower the region. But at the end of the day the most important consideration from my point of view is what can we determine is best for the resource. How do we best preserve this object for future generations and make sure that it is doing the best job it can at sharing its stories with us.”
The Spitfire is protected by the Sunken Military Craft Act. It is in water deep enough and its specific location has not been divulged to protect it from recreational divers.
Another gunboat, the Philadelphia, was raised from the bottom of Lake Champlain in 1935 and is on display at the Smithsonian Museum.
