A later steamer from the same line (Image: Currier & Ives/Library of Congress)
For more than 150 years, the Bay State has been at the bottom of Lake Ontario. One November day, in 1862, the propeller-driven steamship left from Oswego, N.Y., en route to Cleveland. It was packed with merchandise and carrying 16 to 18 people.
Almost immediately, it was hit with dangerously strong winds, Reuters reports, and tried to turn around. But the storm sunk the boat, and it settled 350 feet down, on the floor of the lake—until it was found this year.
Three men, Roland Stevens, Jim Kennard and Roger Pawlowski, found the shipwreck using a sonar scan. They're pros at this: the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle calls Kennard and Pawlowski "without question the most accomplished shipwreck sleuths in western New York" and Reuters notes that Kennard has found more than 200 shipwrecks. They were scanning the lake from their own boat when they passed over this one.
The sunken ship was 137 feet long, and, by law, belongs to the state. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, there are no plans to pull it up to the surface: it'll stay right where it's been for the past century and a half.
Bonus finds: Medusa's head, sculpted; an unexpected asteroid
Every day, we highlight one newly lost or found object, curiosity or wonder. Discover something unusual or amazing? Tell us about it! Send your finds to sarah.laskow@atlasobscura.com.