Adventures of Tom, Jan & Peanut Continued: Lock follies before the lake

Thursday June 27th, 2019

The Oswego Canal opened in 1828. Four years after the Erie Canal. It is 23.7 miles long connecting the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario at Oswego. The canal originally had fifteen locks but thank goodness now only has seven. We were down bound in all of the locks which is usually much easier for controlling the boat Completing the six locks will change our elevation by 118 feet. Once started we were on the move down quickly, like a fast draining tub. Twenty five thousand gallons of water drained and filled the locks.

By the third lock it had become routine, motor in slowly along the wall, grab a line at the bow, hold on until Tom could run down and grab an aft line and prepare to drop. As we descended in the third lock Tom called to me at the bow. The boat behind us is in trouble. When I looked back it was scary. Either the gal tied or wrapped her line around the ladder. Because we were dropping so fast the line tightened quickly and she was unable to get it loose. She yelled for her husband but he wasn't successful either. Now the complete port side of their boat was out of the water and going up with the taught line. She ran in, brought out a knife and cut the line! Ping went the line and the boat dropped violently to the water throwing them both to the floor. Thank goodness she was not standing in the gunnel as it could have thrown her up against the wall and out of the boat. Their boat bounced violently for a minute or two. They reported that they were shook up but ok.
Never, Never tie your lines and always carry a knife on your person when in a lock.
As we exited the seventh lock Oswego and Lake Ontario were in view. It was noon and the lake had one footers so we decided to skip Oswego and head across the lake to Sockets Harbor or Cape Vincent. It was about 3pm with an hour to go and the lake started to pick up. The last hour was quite choppy but tolerable. We were making good time so headed to Cape Vincent. We found all of the town docks under water so we tied up to the break wall for the night. By nightfall there were three of us, one anchored and two of us on the little wall.
Peanut was excited about getting off the boat until she ran down the cement brake wall and realized it was not attached to land. Boy did I get a look! She kept looking over the sides and finally settled in on a 1 by 1 foot piece of grass sticking up through the crack of the wall to take care of things.

Wall mural as we passed by Oswego

The lighthouse as you leave the canal and enter Lake Ontario

Beautiful Day at least most of it on Lake Ontario

The flooding in Cape Vincent, The sailboat that came in and anchored were boaters we met in two previous places. They gave peanut and I a ride to shore. we had to wade in as the docks were under water ankle to calf in depth.