The HMS Ontario

The British warship, the HMS Ontario has a very interesting history. In 2008 the warship was found after having been in the bottom of Lake Ontario for more than 200 years. It was first launched in May and sank during a gale in Lake Ontario. The British had been planning to invade and separate New England from the rest of the colonies, and the HMS Ontario had been in Lake Ontario to help separate New England. But, the ships had been too fragile and the conditions of the Great Lakes, where they were going to invade from, had gotten the best out of the ships and sequencely the ships sank. After the HMS Ontario had sunk the British tried to search for it while trying to keep their loss a secret. However, small signs started to show up, and compasses, hats, and blankets were washed ashore. After a couple of days, the sloop’s sails were seen adrift in the lake. After that, there were no more signs of the ship. But after nearly 200 years of the sinking of the ship, a man named Jim Kennard started to search for the ship, yet as several years went by he decided to stop the search. After that in 2002, he decided to team up with a diver, Dan Scoville to search and locate other ships in the Great Lakes. But, he then decided to go back to his original search three years afterward and search for the HMS Ontario. However, unlike his first search, this search proved successful and led to the discovery of the HMS Ontario. The ship was fully intact due to Lake Ontario ’s dark and cold, fresh water. The ship was also located 500 feet down, where there was almost none animal life to eat the wood and no oxygen or light to help decomposition. The ship was not brought up, as there was so much video of it captured, there was no need to raise the shipwreck.

To conclude, the HMS Ontario has a pretty amazing history and the most important part of it I think is the discovery of it, because otherwise the ship would still be lying in the sea and nobody would know almost anything about it.