The Debris Field
According to local sport divers, a debris field made up of wreckage from the Confiance, as well as the other vessels involved in the 1814 battle, still lies strewn across the floor of Lake Champlain beneath the site. This field purportedly consists of wreckage of all kinds that was cleared from the decks of the vessels and pushed over the side during and after the engagement. Also supposedly present are several cannon, possibly as many as thirteen, that were thrown overboard from the Confiance by the Americans following the British surrender to lighten her and correct a serious list as the vessel was actually in danger of sinking. To date, this debris field has never been fully explored or documented by professionals, but may be viewable from the surface on a magnetometer. Plattsburgh Bay, the actual scene of the engagement, was among the very first sites in the United States to be declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Read more about this topic: HMS Confiance (1814)
Famous quotes containing the word field:
“After all the field of battle possesses many advantages over the drawing-room. There at least is no room for pretension or excessive ceremony, no shaking of hands or rubbing of noses, which make one doubt your sincerity, but hearty as well as hard hand-play. It at least exhibits one of the faces of humanity, the former only a mask.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)