DIVERS were left in awe after discovering a 200-year-old shipwreck still intact with its masts still standing.
A Canadian team stumbled on the vessel after plunging over 100 metres below Lake Ontario’s surface – one of the five Great Lakes of North America.
The vessel is thought to date as far back as the 1800s, a date plucked by archaeologists because of the boat’s “older” rope rigging.
They also noticed its lack of a centreboard and wheel on the aft deck.
Archaeologist James Conolly said these features “immediately” suggested the majestic ship was from the first half of the 19th century.
Delighted, he added this will give him rare insight into an era of Great Lakes shipbuilding history.
Lead diver Heison Chak said it took the team “a few moments” to calm themselves down after making the mysterious and unique discovery.
Intrigue heightened when they noticed both masts were still standing.
According to Heison, this is “pretty rare” as most tend to fall off over time.
He told NY Post: “It’s got its shape. It hasn’t broken down both masts. We saw two — both masts were standing, which is pretty rare.
“In all the rest that I have dove, either they have fallen off, because boats come across them, anchors wreck them [or] divers damage them.”
The diver, whose career spans over two decades, said it was also the first time he’s ever come across a topmast on a shipwreck.
This is positioned above the lower mast and supports the rigging and yards for a topsail.
He said: “I have never seen a top mast in any wrecks that I have dove in Ontario or in the St. Lawrence River.”
University said they first noticed a “unidentified object” in 2017 during a fibre-optic cable survey at the bottom of the lake.
The team had originally planned to find the Rapid City wreck built in 1884 and disappeared in 1917.
It comes as an ancient Roman ship downed by a storm was found centuries later at a holiday hotspot – and there’s even treasure on board.
The 2,000-year-old discovery was made mere metres from a popular beachfront – and baffled researchers claim the ship is still in great condition.
The archaeological sensation was unearthed along the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia this month, almost two millennia after it sunk.
Its timbers even “look like they were just carved”, according to the gobsmacked research team.
Divers suspected there might be a wreck at the Roman port of Barbir after discovering an antique plank with a metal nail in 2020.
Five years later, the entire 42-foot vessel has now been revealed, along with a haul of ancient coins.
One of them even included the ancient Roman emperor, Trajan.
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The incredible shipwreck lies in the village of Sukošan just a few miles south of Zadar, one of Croatia’s biggest tourist destinations.
The International Centre for Underwater Archaeology, which led the excavation, said the ship was likely lost in a storm.