A Ghostly Encounter | The Sunken Sailboat of Shuswap Lake
An eerie image beneath the waters surface, Shuswap Lake, B.C.
Shuswap Adventure Girl
An Eerie Image Below….
April 14th | 2020
It was a super warm spring here in the Shuswap and our family kayaking season started rather early. School was cancelled due to Covid and I had to take on the task of homeschooling two kiddos along with taking care of a very busy toddler. My homeschooling plan quickly moved outdoors with a more natural approach to learning! I could teach about plants and trees, ponds and creeks, useful outdoor skills, new recreational pastimes, and more. Homeschooling turned fun and interesting and brought us on many adventures and experiences that we will not forget! This particular evening was one of them…….
We set out kayaking on a sunny evening in Blind Bay. I and my two older kids (aged 7 & 5) were happily paddling amongst the buoys near the shallows when we came across one that was half-submerged into the water. As we investigated a little further, we realized that something was pulling that buoy under. Cautiously, we glided over top, a little leery of what we would find beneath. And there it was, an incredibly creepy vision of an old sailboat lying at the bottom of the lake. We could clearly see the details…… the sails, the stern, the mast, the port-holes. It was a ghostly looking thing, haunting the waters below the surface.
The half-submerged buoy shown on the right in the foreground. A normal, upright buoy floating on the left behind.
The half-submerged buoy is what we came across first, later discovering it was what the sunken “ghost ship” was still bound to.
Shuswap Adventure Girl
What Is The Story?
We had originally seen the mast sticking out of the water the previous winter around Christmas time or just after while driving down Eagle Bay Road. The boat was finally removed in October 2020. Nearly a full year after our first sighting of it. Why did it sink? Whose boat was it? Was there treasure inside? An ill-fated mishap, an abandonment, an accident? What is the story of the mysterious craft?
I have recently seen video footage from a local of this boat getting pummeled and pounded by the waves during a winter storm here in the Shuswap. It was a biting storm with large and icy waves beating the shoreline. The sailboat was tied to its buoy and was bopping around like a toy boat. It is believed that it sunk the following day.
“ The sailboat was sunk in the water on the day the Titanic sailed. I feel like it had a bunch of fish living in it, I feel like there was fish coming up to the bottom of our kayaks! It was an abandoned ship. The boat looked cool, it was green and very dirty. I felt very comfortable” Little Shuswap Adventure Girl, Age 5
Titanic……
April 14th, 1912, 11:40 pm was when Titanic hit the iceberg and she sank on April 15th at 2 am. The evening we found the submerged, shadowy sailboat of Shuswap Lake was the 108th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. We had been talking about this that same day, so naturally, we had an eerie feeling when we saw the ghostly green image looming below the surface. The kids have a great fascination with the sinking of the Titanic. They also like to read about and watch videos about other abandoned and haunted ships, ghost ships. A ghost ship or phantom ship is an image of a ship with no living crew aboard…….creepy!
The Recovery…
It was a 25-foot sailboat that we had paddled over top of that evening. And on October 29, 2020, it was finally removed from the lake. “Transport Canada worked with a local scuba diving company who had experience recovering sunken vessels to help surface the sailboat and get it to shore. A local CSRD bylaw officer spotted the boat last winter and got the ball rolling, which led to the successful removal of the vessel.”
“According to the CSRD, the coast guard determined there was no concern about marine pollution. The regional district began working with Transport Canada’s Navigation Protection Program to start a clean-up effort. Because the sailboat was deemed an obstruction affecting the safety of other vessels on the lake, the cleanup was planned under the Canadian Navigable Waters Act.” Elliot, Jim.`Video: Sunken sailboat removed from Shuswap Lake``Salmon Arm Observer, November 6, 2020. Date Assessed November 10, 2020, https://www.saobserver.net/news/video-sunken-sailboat-removed-from-shuswap-lake/
Recovery of sunken sailboat on Shuswap Lake (CSRD photo) | https://www.csrd.bc.ca/news-notices/news/2020-11-06/sunken-sailboat-removed-shuswap-lake
A springtime kayak with kids on Shuswap lake, B.C.
Shuswap Adventure Girl
