Steamships & Cargo

Diving the Arrow

It’s an unsettled kind of morning on Chedabucto Bay of Canada’s east coast. The sun is shining—it’s really quite pleasant—but there’s a brisk wind blowing from the southwest. What that translates into here in the waters between Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia is heavy seas. We’re pounding through four to six foot swells in a 25-foot rigid hull inflatable boat.

Perfectly Preserved Gold Rush "ghost ship" Discovered in Canada's Sub-arctic. Detail from the paddlewheel
Perfectly Preserved Gold Rush "ghost ship" Discovered in Canada's Sub-arctic. Detail from the paddlewheel

Well-preserved paddlesteamer found in Canadian sub-arctic

Doug Davidge of the Yukon Transportation Museum in Whitehorse found the gold rush time capsule during a sonar survey. He has been looking for it on and off since the 1980s

The steamboat was built in San Francisco, taken apart in Skagway and hauled over the mountains to Lake Laberge.

"The discovery has been reported to the Canadian government and the Yukon government, and the winter ice has once again sealed the grave of A.J. Goddard.