The Coal Barge

The Coal Barge represents perhaps the most common type of commercial vessel that operated on Lake Champlain and its related canal systems. The standard canal boat first appeared in 1823 with the opening of the Champlain Canal. These craft rapidly increased in numbers through the nineteenth century and operated on the lake into the early 1900's. Canal barges had no independent means of propulsion. On lakes and rivers, they had to be towed by steam vessels and on canals they were moved by horse and mule. Canal boats frequently were the homes of families of "canalers" who lived on the boats and traveled from place to place to earn a living. Long trains of canal boats could still be seen on the lake at the beginning of the 20th century, but disappeared after the expansion of the Champlain Canal in the 1920's. The Coal Barge wreck is believed to be the A. R. NOYES, a canal boat that was reported sunk on October 17, 1884. She was being towed by the steam tug TISDALE, when a number of boats broke loose on the way into Burlington. The A.R. NOYES was the only one lost.

Features of Interest on the Wreck:
- Size of Wreck: 90' long, 14' wide
- The rudder and rudder post are visible on the stern, facing upslope towards Proctor Shoal.
- At the bow (deeper end), three coal shovels jut out of the coal pile, in the same position as when the vessel sank in 1884; a wooden harness for one of the mules that towed the vessel through the canal is still on the bow.
- Her holds still contain her last cargo of coal, intended for unloading at Burlington Harbor.

(DO NOT PENETRATE THE WRECK.) - The bow, north facing and downslope, was crushed and partially buried by shifting coal when the vessel impacted the bottom. Special Note: The Coal Barge sits on an extremely silty bottom. Visibility can quickly become very poor. Exercise care in traveling from buoys to the wreck to avoid stirring up the bottom.