Robert H. Wilkinson
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- Jan 26, 2011
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Back in early May a commercial fishing trawler out of Port Dover Ontario brought home a surprizing catch. They were pulling a line net about 3 mph in about 115' of water - 5 meters off the bottom when they realized they had caught something heavy. So heavy that their winches were unable to bring the net to the surface. After several attempts the captain was faced with a choice. He could start cutting his net which he said would cost him around $6,000. or he could steam for port towing the net. He decided on the latter, making the 28 mile trip back in 3 hours, non stop for fear that the weighted net would settle back to the bottom if he was forced to stop. He pulled into port and a crane barge was waiting for him at the pier. They thought perhaps they had snagged a discarded pipe from a pipeline that was in the area. When the crane raised the net nobody expected what they found.
A 200 year old mast :shock: solid pine - 15 to 20 inches in dia. - 77 feet long - and in its water logged state weighing between 15 and 20 tons!! It was hoisted on to the pier where it was displayed for about a month then the Ontario government ordered it placed back in the water. The Long Point Tip is the graveyard of Lake Erie containing hundreds of shipwrecks from the 1800 and 1900's. They believe it was the shorter mast off a 3 masted schooner, the longer mast would have been around 90 feet. It had a metal ring attached at the top and a boxed section a bit lower. Some say it was the remnants of the crows nest. Another told me that a smaller top mast would have been inserted into these brackets.
I was there along with some reporters the day the barge lifted it back in the water. They were going to leave it submerged for some time(strapped to the side of the barge) to make sure it was water logged again before dropping it back into its grave. I will post some of my pictures in an album.
You can read more about it on the internet. I googled "wooden mast caught in fish net Port Dover" and a bunch of newspaper reports came up.
Regards, Rob
A 200 year old mast :shock: solid pine - 15 to 20 inches in dia. - 77 feet long - and in its water logged state weighing between 15 and 20 tons!! It was hoisted on to the pier where it was displayed for about a month then the Ontario government ordered it placed back in the water. The Long Point Tip is the graveyard of Lake Erie containing hundreds of shipwrecks from the 1800 and 1900's. They believe it was the shorter mast off a 3 masted schooner, the longer mast would have been around 90 feet. It had a metal ring attached at the top and a boxed section a bit lower. Some say it was the remnants of the crows nest. Another told me that a smaller top mast would have been inserted into these brackets.
I was there along with some reporters the day the barge lifted it back in the water. They were going to leave it submerged for some time(strapped to the side of the barge) to make sure it was water logged again before dropping it back into its grave. I will post some of my pictures in an album.
You can read more about it on the internet. I googled "wooden mast caught in fish net Port Dover" and a bunch of newspaper reports came up.
Regards, Rob