Lillie Parsons

A 2 masted “Fore and Aft” rigged centerboard schooner built in Tonawanda N.Y. in 1868, she was sailing with 500 tons of coal destined for Brockville when on August 5, 1877 a sudden squall shifted her cargo and pinned her against an island letting her take water, capsizing and sinking her. The large rudder sits proudly upstream with a broad square stern resting on the rock ledges that support her. The masts jutt from beneath her and run out into the channel, while a visit to the vessels bottom shows the drop center board secured in the casing midship.

Located on the upstream/channel side of Sparrow Island in the Brockville “narrows”. The “Lillie” is one of Ontario’s most famous wrecks. Accessing the site from the corner of Sparrow Island at the anchor on shore, one can follow the chain to the bow or swim into the current and down the island contour to follow the island profile upstream to the rudder.