We spent a couple of days in Oswego trying to sleuth engine and electrical problems that Salty Dog was having.  The area about one of the pod drives was slowly filling with water, the other pod drive was consuming transmission fluid, one of the temperature sensors kept popping off and then it appear the aft bilge pump wasn’t working.  The AIS (automatic identification system to identify the boat to others) wasn’t working (giving GPS errors) and neither were a carbon monoxide alarm and one of the 12V receptacles on the bridge.  Sigh.

We sorted out a couple of these problems and on Monday morning had a mechanic come aboard to see what we could do about the engine and pump issues – and he seemed to present some solutions.  Monday was a bad travel day with thunderstorms and high waves on Lake Ontario so just as well we delayed travel for a day.

So finally today we left Oswego and ventured out onto one of the Great Lakes for the first time.

Farewell to Oswego gas tanks, Fort Ontario and West Pierhead Lighthouse (in need of a paint job)

After two weeks on canals, the immediate impression was that the water was wild and chaotic – with waves higher than we expected.  Last year, Lake Ontario was flooded due to water management issues and reported 25 foot waves during one storm – so we ventured out with some trepidation into the deep waters of Lake Ontario.  And deep it is – for Salty Dog that is – who has never been in water deeper than 100 feet (Long Island Sound) and now we saw depths as great as 450 feet.  As Molly Bloom in Ulysses mused on the deep waters off Gibraltar, “O that deep-down torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like tire and the glorious sunsets…”  Salty was worried, but notwithstanding that it was a delightful ride with blue water, blue skies – even if we had to go slowly part of the way.

Open and empty sea - Lake Ontario.

That coupled with no horizon to the north and west gave the impression of a wild new environment. Such babies we are.  What would Samuel de Champlain in 1615 have thought of us – he was making history in a wooden shoebox not a modern nearly unsinkable fiberglass technical wonder – and he was surrounded by hostile natives, no weather forecasting and tormented by the worry that any mistake he made might keep him from ever seeing New France (or old France, for that matter) ever again.

So after 90 minutes or so, the waves subsided per the weather forecasts and we were able to sustain a 30 mph speed to Sackets Harbor.   

Stony Point Lighthouse; stony Stony point, and the Navy Point Marina.

What a wonderful choice of stopover we made.  This place has been since 1963 on a National Historical register and has a rich military history.  To make a very complicated military history succinct – Sackets Harbor was set up by the fledgling US government as a naval and ship-building center in the lead up to the War of 1812 to fend off those British and Canadian forces seeking to seek an early end to the United States.  Lake Ontario and in particular Fort Niagara and Sackets Harbor were battle grounds.

The village is dominated by the harbor – overseen by the former Fort Tompkins (or Navy Point) on the west end and the ruins of Fort Pike on the eastern end.  The whole eastern part of the town until relatively recently was a military installation with barracks and military administrative buildings. This wasn’t just a military village but the scene of much carnage – as the British/Canadians did attack in the 1812 war and many soldiers died and were buried in anonymous graves in a large field on that end of town.

Sentry gates at limits of former military grounds; former barracks now residential; Fort Pike embankment

Former military administration buildings (now part of a hotel in development); Ruins of Stone Hospital

Former military administration building; Stone water tower; former barracks (formerly housing among others General Ulysses Grant, Fiorello LaGuardia and General George Sherman, among others.

The village of Sackets Harbor has a large number of well-preserved 19^thcentury houses – clearly well cared for to the present day in private hands.  For such a small place (pop. ~1800) there are a large number of restaurants and shops.  

The site make a great stopover en route to the Thousand Islands. We were rewarded with daylight until 930pm with a pink sky over the Black River bay.