A. E. Vickery

The A. E. Vickery is a wooden three masted schooner that lies upright in the water just off the Rock Island schoal and her stern hangs over a ledge (resulting in a fairly well preserved rudder). This ship was originally named J. B. Penfield but was renamed in the mid 1880s as the A.E. Vickery. On August 17th, as she was delivering corn cargo to a distillery in Prescott, the ship struck a rock and sunk. Original newspaper articles reveal that the ship's captain, when approaching the American Narrows of the 1000 Islands, requested that a pilot be brought on-board to guide them through this rocky region. Not even fifteen minutes after the pilot boarded the ship, did the vessel strike rocks. The captain was so distraught that the ship that he had sailed for more than 7 years was about to sink, that he pulled a gun on the pilot. Luckily, the captain's mate push the captain's arm away and the bullet destined for the pilot's head made it into the ship instead.

The A. E. Vickery site has been granted an advanced rating not only due to the max depth of 123 ft. but also for the penetration potential (though some parts are no longer so stable-- so be cautious) and the strong current. Safety Alert-- The dive line at the A.E. Vickery site sits over a ledge and, due to the strong current, it has a tendency to get severed. Since this is a through-way for larger boats, it is very important to play it safe and avoid surfacing without guidance.

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