Celebration at Mariners Museum

New plaque tells tale of anchor’s recovery and donation

Vince Murray celebrated his 90th birthday last week with the unveiling of a plaque at Mariners Museum that details his role in the recovery of the anchor from the three-masted schooner City of Sheboygan, which sank in 1915 just off the coast of Amherst Island. In 1967, he and his diving partners, Ivor Cura, John Slack and Sandy Harrison, brought the anchor 95 feet to the surface from its resting place at the bottom of the lake in a risky and arduous attempt. The schooner was built in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1871 and plied its trade carrying freight in the Great Lakes. It was carrying a 700-ton load of feldspar on its final ill-fated trip in September 1915, in Lake Ontario. The back end of the ship hit Big Bar Shoal during a storm and the ship turned back to Amherst Island, but sank just off Nut Island in 95 feet of water. The captain and four crew members perished in the shipwreck. The wreck was discovered by divers Lloyd Shales, Barbara Carson and John Birtwhistle in 1963. Shortly afterwards a fishing vessel operated by the Welbanks family of Amherst Island snagged its nets on the anchor. The family told Vince about the incident and he thought it would be quite the adventure to recover some artifacts from the wreck. In 1967, with the help of a dive boat and diving equipment loaned from the HMCS Cataraqui, Vince and his dive partners cut the anchor from its chain and raised it to the surface using the buoyancy of four 45-gallon drums filled with air from their spare scuba tanks. Vince suggested that the anchor be donated to the newly opened Mariners Park Museum.

The anchor is one of the iconic pieces of the museum, and there was a small engraved label attached to it noting its provenance and the names of the four divers who recovered it. However, the label had deteriorated over the years, and Vince’s children approached the museum about the installation of a more informative plaque that explained the history of the artifact. Last Wednesday, to celebrate Vince’s 90 the birthday, family and friends gathered at Mariners Park Museum for the unveiling of the new plaque. Museum curator Jessica Chase was thrilled to help celebrate Vince’s birthday said the plaque provides some much-needed contextual information about the anchor. “This project, while facilitated by myself, my colleague Justin and Vince’s friend Steve Turner, was spearheaded by Vince’s daughter Deborah, who oversaw the project. It was important to Deborah and her family that the anchor be marked as a commemoration of Vince’s effort retrieving it, and we are thrilled to be able to tell its story more thoroughly here on our grounds,” she said.

The Mariners Park Museum is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Prince Edward County’s rich maritime heritage. It was founded in 1976 by Willis Metcalfe and James Plomer, as well as a team of dedicated volunteers. Mr. Metcalfe, author of Canvas & Steam on Quinte Waters, donated much of his collection to the museum. The museum’s collections includes artifacts from early commercial fishing, the days of rum running, speedboat racing, and various types of watercraft. The waters around the County are estimated to hold the remains of more than 300 shipwrecks. The museum is a little off the beaten path, and is open from the end of May to mid-September. Ms. Chase said that more events are being planned in an effort to draw more visitors to the location. The museum will be open this weekend with a new exhibit space dedicated to the County’s connection with the Avro Arrow, which is part of the Quinte Avro Arrow Trail. On Sunday, conservator Kate Sullivan, of the Canadian Conservation Institute, will give a presentation on conservation efforts to restore the Delta Test Vehicle, a flight model that was the precursor to the Avro Arrow test models and which was recovered during the Raise the Arrow campaign in 2018. For more information about the Mariners Park Museum, please call 613.476.2148, extension 2521, or email museums@pecounty.on.ca.