Molly's Gut & Cole Shoal

 Molly's Gut

Molly's Gut

Note: Click on an image to see it larger.

Today I am heading upriver to a small sheltered bay known as Molly's Gut and perhaps a bit further to pass around 5 Mile Light at Cole's Shoal.   I will begin my paddle at St. Lawrence Park in the west end of Brockville; at the top of the"T" in Track oo1 above.

St. Lawrence Park

 My interest in this area peaked after first seeing a postcard depicting a sunken wreck then reading an article which described the raising and salvage of a private yacht called the "Morning Star"at Gananoque in 1948.  The article went on to say that it was possible the "Morning Star" had ended up as one of the wrecks at Molly's Gut as the person who raised her and towed her from Gananoque ran his business at Hillcrest in Molly's Gut.

 Raising of Morning Star 1948
Photo by Maude May
 Maude May/Guild/ Hennessy Fonds LTIarchives

Unfortunately to this day the final whereabouts of the Morning Star remains a mystery.  Still, reason enough for an investigative paddle to see what can be seen at Molly's Gut.  A little slow going as winds are from SW gusting 20k so fighting current which is considerable among the islands and a headwind.

Strong current

Sparrow Island

I go more towards the center of the river outside the islands to miss the Brockville narrows, a shallower area with fast current until I reach Sheaffe island where I swing right to head for Molly's Gut.

Entrance to Molly's Gut

Turning in at the first channel I go straight to an area that I thought I could see a shadow on Google Maps and sure enough there is some kind of wreck submerged here with even a small portion sticking out of the water.

Wrk1

Wrk1

I now decide to stop for lunch and head over to the smaller island which belongs to city of Brockville and has some docking attached  at the NW corner, this is where I tie up and get my chair out for lunch. The other island De Wattville is private.

Lunch break

After lunch I check out the island, it has a campsite at the south end with a possible landing at the SW corner although with low water levels looks kinda tight.

Possible landing

Campsite

After a quick look round its back to the kayak for another look for wrecks.  The east side of this island is where there appears to be a second wreck, also some strange looking submerged frame of considereable size, purpose unknown.

Wreck locations

Wrk2

There is one other location where I have been told there is another and also that location would be a good fit for the postcard I saw.  This is off the east side of De Wattville island almost south of the campsite mentioned earlier.   Unfortunately I could not see anything, it is deeper water and today is not the best as not enough sun and there is some chop from the wind so will need to check on some other visit.  With the stiff SW wind I decide not to paddle to Cole Shoal but head around De Wattville to a point where I might get a long range photo of it.   Cole Shoal is better known as 5 mile light due to its distance from Brockville.  A lighthouse was established there around 1856 along with 8 others along the river to aid navigation between Brockville and Kingston.  I seem to recall Mail boats ran between those two cities once upon a time.

5 Mile light on Cole Shoal

This historical landmark lasted until July 23 2018 when an electrical storm caused it's destruction by setting it on fire.  I memorialised this event by doing a pastel on canvas board shown below.

5 Mile light
pastel

Thankfully enough people were upset at this loss that money was raised and a new replica was built and maybe in a hundred or so years it will aquire similar character as the original😏.

So time to head home this time going downstream first passing the navigation light at Molly's Gut entrance then through the beginning of the Narrows and out to go around the outside of Sparrow and Stovin islands.  As I near the seaway channel I'm passed by the Federal Yoshino a bulk carrier enroute from Montreal to Cleveland.

Nav light

Federal Yoshino

Staying out closer to mid-stream I pass Refugee island before turning in to pass Skelton island beyond my take-out and carry on to Brockville before turning back to St. Lawrence park where a happy crowd was enjoying the beach and I can call it a day load up and drivc home.

St. Lawrence Park beach

Happy paddling!

from

KayakJock