Legend has it the Caroline Rose, a three-masted schooner, appeared on the $100 Canadian bill. According to the captain who took us out to the site, this was recently disproved when some interested parties tracked down the original photo on which the $100 bill illustration was based, found the date of the photograph, and checked the shipping logs for a list of ships moored at that location and date. They discovered that the ship in the photo bore a striking resemblance to the Rose but was in fact a different ship.

Anyway, the Rose was quite an ornate and pretty ship by accounts. She was purchased by a wealthy individual who planned to turn it into a restaurant. Those plans came to naught and she was languishing in the harbour Owen Sound. When the owner failed to pay the hydro bill, electricity to the ship was cut off, which disabled the bilge pump. Soon enough the Rose was sitting in the bottom of the harbour. When water levels dropped, she was deemed a hazard to boats in the harbour and was destined for removal. Enter a group of divers and business people, who bought the ship for $1 and towed her to Driftwood Cove, where she was sunk as a dive site in 1990 — one of the first artificial reef programs in North America, I’m told.

Driftwood Cove was thought to be the perfect underwater oasis for the wreck, but alas this too turned out to be false. Within one year of her placement in the cove, a storm surge came along and dragged the wreck hundreds of feet in-shore, leaving a trail of debris and flattening the wreck.

Anyway, on to the dive report!

We dove the Rose on September 15, 2012. The mooring line leads down to a concrete block, atop which divers have arranged all manner of tools, implements and pieces from the wreck. Directly off the block is a view of her two propellors and what I suppose is the rudder, lying flat on the ground. Traversing the wreck, one finds lots of pulleys, cables, instruments, pipes, and electrical wiring strewn about. The main portion of the wreck is surrounded by large square boards resting atop the sandy bottom. Thick rope lies in curls and knots off her starboard side. A pair of tanks rest next to a large square object in the middle of the wreck, and the spare propellor can be found under some boards just towards the bow from the tanks.

A large school of baby lake trout made this wreck their home this season, and you can see them clearly swimming in a group in the video above.

Max depth: 51 feet. Visibility: 40 feet. Temperature: 64F.