Land Tortoise (shipwreck)

For other uses, see Radeau (disambiguation).

Radeau Land Tortoise (Shipwreck)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Nearest city	Lake George, NY
Coordinates
Built	1758
NRHP Reference #	95000819
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 10, 1995
Designated NHL	August 6, 1998

Radeau Land Tortoise (Shipwreck) is the Lake George site of a shipwreck from the French and Indian Wars era. The vessel is a radeau. Simple in construction, it was built by Capt. Samuel Cobb of Falmouth, now Portland, Province of Maine for the British and Colonial forces in 1758 to help combat the French in North America. She was built in just over a month, launched, tested ("rowed well with 26 oars") and then two days later intentionally sunk by adding ballast with plans to re-float her in the spring of 1759. This plan was never fulfilled, however, leaving the Land Tortoise at the bottom of Lake George for more than two centuries. It is believed to be the oldest intact warship in North America, and is the only surviving ship of its type. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998. The site is accessible to the general diving public.

References

Register of the officers and members of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Maine. Together with Samuel Cobb's Journal. Marks Printing House. Portland, Maine 1905

Further reading

• Report on the 1994 installation of the Land Tortoise Radeau, Lake George, New York
• The radeau Land Tortoise, North America's oldest intact warship : a learning book about a French & Indian War vessel
• In search of Lake George's colonial warships (VHS, 1991)

External links

• Land Tortoise - New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• "Radeau LAND TORTOISE" summary at National Park Service
• From the depths of Lake George
• "The Lost Radeau: America's Oldest Intact Warship", a documentary film
• Weekly World News 18 DEC 1990
• All Over Albany Archive: The Lost Radeau: a shipwreck in Lake George
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