Cape Breton Area Wrecks
Many shipwrecks in Nova Scotia have become popular dive sites for sport divers. When preserved, their wrecks offer rewarding recreational opportunities and beautiful photography.
Shipwrecks offer an important resource to explore the past. A number of Nova Scotian shipwrecks have been studied by underwater archaeologists. The Special Places Protection Act in Nova Scotia protects the heritage value of shipwrecks and prohibits the removal of objects without a permit.
Find more information on each location below:
#8 - Celebre, 1758: CELEBRE's wreck is protected from the open ocean by Louisbourg's harbour and is well preserved. It is also close to the Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site which has made it easier to protect from souvenir hunters. The wreck has been carefully documented and a limited number of artifacts have been taken up for study. The wreck is open to supervised recreational diving booked through licensed divers only. Its rows of cannons and mounds of recognizable artifacts make it a popular international diving attraction.
This incredible dive site has been mapped as below:
#10 - Evelyn, 1913: There is little known of Evelyn's challenges when she wrecked. She was built in 1906 in Great Britian, and this Cargo ship was enroute from Germany to Georgia with a cargo of salt when she was lost at the entrance to Louisbourg Harbor.
#19 - Montara, 1920: Montara was an iron built American freighter lost to the fog off Gooseberry Cove, just 5 miles East of Louisbourg. Locals were unsure of why her crew abandoned the ship so quickly after her grounding, but did report the fog was low and heavy that August morning.
#20 - Prudent, 1758: The Prudent was a French Navy warship of 64 guns, commanded by Marquis des Grouttes. One of the largest of the French warships at the Second Siege of Louisbourg, Prudent was boarded at night by boats from the Royal Navy blockading fleet, and her decks were quickly captured with little loss of life. The crew below surrendered soon afterwards, and the officers were taken prisoner. As the ship was aground and could not be sailed away, the British set fire to her, placing combustibles at the foot of the masts and in the gun room. The fire quickly spread into a spectacular, and for the French, demoralizing inferno. Our dive instructor, Harvey Morash, assisted with the wreck mapping over the course of three years and is very familiar with this wreck.
#4 - Astraea, 1834: Tragically, the lives of approximately 248 Irish immigrants were lost on the night of May 8, 1834 when the Astraea struck rocks very near the shore just off Little Lorraine, not far from Louisbourg, Cape Breton. The three survivors described how quickly the wood barque ship broke up and found the bottom of the Atlantic, far from her destination of Quebec, Canada. Reports of the lives lost vary considerably due to the Ireland ship owner being unable to provide a complete passenger list, but are speculated as high as 275 souls.
#28 - Ciss, 1940: This steel Norwegian freighter was caught in drift ice and driven onto shoal and later sank off Scatarie Island on February 8, 1940. When she originally departed St. Johns, New Foundland in ballast for Louisburg, Cape Breton, she was told the ice would not be a factor in her journey. About 15.n miles southeast of Louisburg they encountered pack ice, so they steered a more southerly course along the edge of the ice. As the winds increased, the ice packed itself tighter and tighter together until she was surrounded by it, only to never recover. The frozen agressor threw her against Little Shag Rock before pulling her back into it's grip. The crew escaped in the lifeboats only to watch the Ciss succomb to the Atlantic and her ice.
Information on these wrecks coming soon: #9, 36, 42, 11, 17, 18 & 21
