The radeau (raft) Land Tortoise was built in 1758 during the French and Indian War as part of a British effort to regain control of Lake George after the loss of Fort William Henry in 1757.
Constructed by provincial militia forces under Captain Samuel Cobb of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) the 52-foot long floating artillery battery was built in just over a month, launched, tested (“rowed well with 26 oars”) and then intentionally sunk.
Plans to re-float her from her underwater storage in the spring of 1759 were unsuccessful however, as the boat settled too deep for recovery – about 100 feet under the south end of Lake George where it remains to this day, the oldest intact shipwreck in North America.
In the first of a two-part interview on the Lake George Battlefield Moments podcast historian Dr. Russell P. Bellico shares stories of his dives to the bottom of Lake George as part of the team who rediscovered the radeau in 1990.
(Regular New York Almanack contributor Joseph Zarzynski was also part of that team.)
He also discusses several other important shipwrecks in Lake George and Lake Champlain, New York State’s underwater preserves, shipwreck preservation and more.
You can listen to part one of the interview here.
The Lake George Battlefield Moments podcast is produced by the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance, a friends group supporting the Lake George Battlefield Park Historic District in Lake George, Warren County, NY. All of the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance’s podcasts can be accessed through their YouTube channel.
Listen to more history podcasts here.
Illustrations, from above courtesy artist Tim Cordell: Details from Cordell’s paintings “The Radeau ‘Invincible’ Lake George, NY 1759” and “October 22, 1758 Sinking of the Radeau.”
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