The Lexington Shipwreck New York and New England's (Wreck Valley)

The Lexington Shipwreck New York and New England's (Wreck Valley)

Historical and current New York and New England Shipwreck Information and images for scuba divers and fisherman.

LEXINGTON

The wooden paddlewheel steamer Lexington. She was built by Bishop & Simonson of New York in1835. She was 205 feet long had a 21 foot beam and could cruise at 14 knots.

On January 13th, 1840the Lexington left New York bound for Stonington, Connecticut. She had approximately 154 passengers and crew aboard. A short time latter a fire was discovered around the funnel. Although a fire fighting team was quickly dispatched they failed to put out the fire. The Larchmont was also sailing under full steam at the time. It was apparently impossible to stop the engines due to the fire. Many lifeboats were lost as they were lowered at speed swamping immediately. At the time of the disaster only one copy of the passenger list was made. This copy was aboard the Lexington thus making it impossible to verify the total number lost in the disaster. We have estimated that over 150 persons lost their lives and only 4 were saved.

In 1983 Clive Cussler of NUMA tried to locate the wreck. Using a side scan sonar they located a wreck off Eaton's Neck. Divers descended to find a wreck with charred timbers. Some of the wood was brought to the surface. It was Charred Yellow Pine the same wood used in the Lexington's construction. The Lexington now sits in several sections ranging from over 70 feet to over 140 feet.

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