It was the first vessel to successfully move cargo between North America and Europe. It was vital in the opening of trade between the two continents and “she made good money at it,” said Mike Wachter, an author on Lake Erie shipwrecks.

Wachter and his wife, Georgann, have penned three books on the 1,750 known wrecks lying at the bottom of Lake Erie, but the C.B. Benson, which lies six miles off the shores of Port Colborne, holds a special place in their hearts.

“We have a special affection for the Benson,” said Georgann. The couple lives a few houses down from the great-great-granddaughter of John Duff, builder and captain of the C.B. Benson.

When the ship went down Oct. 13, 1893 it took all eight crewmen with it, including the captain and first mate, Duff’s son, Curtis.

Curtis’s wife would have gone down with her husband but decided against accompanying him on the trip because she was pregnant.

“It was a horrendous storm,” Georgann explains. “One of the largest storms in Lake Erie’s history.”

Earlier in the day the C.B. Benson left port in Buffalo, N.Y., loaded up with coal in Erie, Pa. and headed towards Toledo, Ohio.

While in Erie, John Duff wrote two postcards to his wife, which the Wachters have in their possession. In the second postcard Duff expressed doubt about leaving port as the weather did not appear good. The ship headed out into the waters of Lake Erie despite Duff’s own concerns and a nautical superstition of sailing on Friday the 13th.

A huge storm was brewing, the Benson got caught in the middle of it.

Two days later masts were reported sticking out of the water by Gravelly Bay.

The Benson wasn’t the only ship to go down in the Oct. 13 storm. Two other ships owned by the same company as the Benson met a similar fate that day.

The C.B. Benson landed upright on bottom of Lake Erie. She remains that way today, Georgann said.

“It’s an impressive wreck,” said Matthew Manziuk, manager of Dan’s Dive Shop in St. Catharines. “It looks like you could lift it out of the water and it would sail tomorrow.”

Manziuk said the deeper waters have better preserved the vessel. The Raleigh, which lies off Sherkston Beach has suffered damage in its shallow resting place from waves and ice while the Benson has been protected by the depth of Lake Erie.

What impresses Manziuk, who charters Lake Erie wrecks through the dive shop, is the wheel. Unlike most shipwrecks the ship’s wheel remains on the deck.

“What’s most impressive about the Benson is the amount of artifacts that remain on the ship,” said Barb Marshall, a member of the Niagara Divers’ Association who headed the survey of the Benson in 1999. Deadeyes, blocks, booms and bilge pumps remain on the wreck which sits in 85 feet of water.

The location of the Benson was made public in 1998 after being discovered by Craig Workman who was searching for the Viking, a yacht which caught fire earlier in the year. The wreck had previously been discovered by Mike Fletcher and Jamie Nadrovsky in 1989 and again by Doug King and Mike Buck in 1997.

The wreck was posted as off-limits until a survey could be completed. Marshall headed the national Archaeological Survey level one course in 1999. The survey provided full documentation of the vessel through historic records, drawings, still photos and video.

Following the survey Marshall applied for a permit and the wreck was made a public dive site.

By that time the philosophy of diving had changed. At one time it was acceptable to pillage artifacts from wrecks, now doing so is subject to a $50,000 fine and jail time.

“Shipwrecks should be preserved for the future generations,” said Marshall. “Everyone used to take things from wrecks, that’s all changed now.”

Microchips are hidden among the many artifacts such as wheels, clocks and other souvenir-type pieces on the ship some divers may be tempted to pillage, Marshall said.

A Duff family reunion was held in July 2002 at the site of the wreck. Thirteen members of the Duff family joined a team of local divers aboard a charter. Two of John Duff’s great-grandchildren took a dive to the bottom of Lake Erie to see the remains of the ship that remains in their family’s ownership.

Beneath a heavy coating of zebra mussels much of the C.B. Benson remains intact. Her cargo holds still carry the coal that was meant to be delivered to Ohio.

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AT A GLANCE

THE C.B. BENSON

Built by John Duff at Port Clinton Ohio in 1873.

The three-masted wooden schooner measured 136 feet long by 26 feet wide and grossed 299 gross tonnes.

The C.B. Benson was lost in a storm on Friday Oct. 13, 1893. All eight crewmen were lost in the storm.

The Benson loaded coal in Erie, Pa. and headed towards Toledo, Ohio.

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Next week: Carlingford and Brunswick