The George C Finney lies upright in 100 feet of water, buried in mud and silt, with the majority of the hull buried in mud and other parts of the shipwreck covered in zebra mussels near the US-Canada border.
Thomas J. Riordan, originally from Ireland, built the ship in the United States. He captained the boat and sailed from Toledo, Ohio to Buffalo, New York with grain-filled hulls. The George C Finney, a three masted schooner was considered very seaworthy and was manned by Riordan, an experienced captain and crew, but she couldn’t withstand a Lake Erie gale in 1891.
On November 14, 1891, Finney set sail from Toledo for Buffalo accompanied with M.J. Cummings. They traveled together until the November 17, when they encountered one of the worst gales ever recorded on Lake Erie. The Finney vanished after the squall passed. Finney went down with all hands lost.
George C. Finney was found 15 miles South of Port Maitland, Ontario.
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