Lake George Colonial Wars Walking Tour Stop 9: Radeau Warship
The Land Tortoise, built by Colonial and British Troops near this site in 1758, lies two miles north in 107 feet of water. This 52-foot long radeau was found in Lake George in 1990 by principals of Bateaux Below, Inc. using a Klein side scan sonar. This marker was erected in 1995, also by Bateaux Below, Inc.
After being found in 1990, the vessel was studied for the next four years. In 1994, it opened as a New York State Submerged Heritage Preserve, an underwater museum for visiting divers. The site has a plastic chain supported by PVC posts built around it to discourage divers from touching this fragile warship.
In 1995, the Land Tortoise, called "North America's oldest intact warship," was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Land Tortoise was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1998 by the Department of the Interior.
For information on the preserves, contact: Lake George Submerged Heritage Preserves, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Region 5, Route 86, Box 296, Ray Brook, New York 12977.
Continue the Walking Tour to Stop 10: Battle of Lake George
This "Colonial Wars" guide that Mannix Marketing has adapted for lakegeorge.com, with the Alliance's OK, is attributed to Bateaux Below, Inc.
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TOUR WRITTEN BY: Dr. Russell P. Bellico, Bob Benway, Tim Cordell, John Farrell, Scott Padeni and Joseph W. Zarzynski
ART BY: Tim Cordell
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Bob Benway
©1996, 2022 Bateaux Below, Inc. Reprinted 2022 with the permission of Bateaux Below, Inc. Historical updates provided by Dr. Russell P. Bellico and Dr. Lyn Karig Hohmann The reproduction of this brochure has been made possible by an Occupancy Tax Grant award from the Town of Lake George.
Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance PO Box 26, Lake George, NY 12845 www.lakegeorgebattlefield.org
SUGGESTED READING LIST:
Bellico, Russell P. - Chronicles of Lake George - Journeys in War and Peace. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 1995.
Bellico, Russell P. - Sails and Steam in the Mountains – A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 2001.
Bellico, Russell P. - Empires in the Mountains - French and Indian War Campaigns and Forts in the Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River Corridor. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY 2010.
Griffith IV, William R. - The Battle of Lake George - England’s First Triumph in the French and Indian War. History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 2016
Steele, Ian K. - Betrayals – Fort William Henry & The “Massacre.” Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1990.
Zarzynski, Joseph W. - Ghost Fleet Awakened - Lake George’s Sunken Bateaux of 1758. State University of New York, Albany, NY, 2019.
