Small steel hulled vessels
 

Hi All,

Over the years I've found 4 steel hulled vessels in Winnipesaukee: Saunders Bay, Center Harbor Bay, East side of Long Island and one in Melvin Bay.

Experience tells me they were likely steamers but not necessarily-possibly gas powered.

What makes them interesting are 2 things: they're made of steel and they are short-none of them are more than maybe 18 feet long max..

I was thinking they might have been used to herd logs during a drive because they are steel and the risk of a log punching through the hull "should" be less than a wooden vessel. And due to their short length they could easily weave in and out of a field of logs given the right conditions. Losing logs meant losing money.

Because their hulls were deteriorated but certainly not gone and were found before I bought my GoPro, I don't have any pictures or videos. I should probably re-visit all of them of take some.

I like posting questions like this to the Forum because people have resources and information etc. I don't have and to me things like this are a bit of a puzzle we can piece together to see if something useful comes out of it.

They really are unique amongst all the wrecks I've found in Winni.

Any help appreciated.

HH

Found some images
 

I dug into my files and came up with pictures from the Ctr. Harbor wreck and one sonar shot-Melvin Bay.

If you use the scale at the top of the sonar shot you can estimate the length rather well. Each increment is in meters. Sonar software measuring tool also had it at about 15-16 feet long.

Using the scale in the image, last image if they posted in the order I did them, pencils out to about 15+-.

Recollections
 

I have recollections of seeing a few steel lifeboats on the ground in Center Harbor near the Mount's drydock (50's and 60';s?). prob ably in the 50's. They gradually reduced the number of lifeboats and I think now have one 13' Boston Whaler. These could have been sold and recycled to some other use. Unlikely to me that there would have been a lot of timber herding after 1940 as most timber came down in 1938 and there was not much gas available during WW II.
It would be interesting to know if there is evidence of how/why they sank, and if there is any machinery left aboard, or evidence of machinery such as propeller shaft portals, etc.

Steel?
 

Not aluminum? :confused:

Through galvanization, iron alloys disappear in this lake water! :eek: (Although aluminum might not fare any better).

Fifteen-feet would be a medium-sized canoe.

Looks like a Grumman Canoe

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17-foot-Gru...8AAOSwlGxfHjQc

https://marathonboat.com/grumman/