News

Jun 27, 2023

Story of shipwreck in Canandaigua Lake scheduled for Oct. 19

Hill CANANDAIGUA — In 1896, a steel-hulled, screw-driven steamboat called the Seneca Chief sank in Canandaigua Lake. That shipwreck was discovered by lake resident Scott Hill, the former commander of

Hill

CANANDAIGUA — In 1896, a steel-hulled, screw-driven steamboat called the Seneca Chief sank in Canandaigua Lake.

That shipwreck was discovered by lake resident Scott Hill, the former commander of the Rochester Police Department’s scuba squad and executive of the aerial imaging company Pictometry, on April 20, 2014. He found it in the waters near the Canandaigua Yacht Club, in the northwest area of the lake.

The story of the sinking of the Seneca Chef and its discovery on the bottom of the lake will be told during a special program at 7 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 19) at Finger Lakes Community College’s Stage 14.

The event is sponsored by the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association.

Hill will use historic records, aerial photography, underwater photos and video to tell the audience about the Seneca Chief shipwreck and its significance in Canandaigua Lake history. He also will talk about his career with RPD and Pictometry.

The Seneca Chief was built in Buffalo and taken to Canandaigua by rail in 1888; it was rare to see a steel steamboat at the time. The vessel was 50 feet long, a little too small for a passenger boat, and the Canandaigua Lake Navigation Co. likely removed the engine and sank the boat in 1896, with plans to replace it with a larger vessel.

Hill served as a captain and commanding officer of the RPD in a large, high-crime precinct in Rochester. As commanding officer of the Research and Evaluation Section, he directed the development of the first digital mugshot system for law enforcement in the nation. He also served as commanding officer of the department’s scuba squad, and became an accomplished photographer with expertise in aerial, land and underwater photography.

His images have appeared in National Geographic, including underwater photos and a process he developed to construct a photo mosaic of a 19th-century ferryboat shipwreck he discovered in Lake Champlain.

Those interested in attending Wednesday’s program should register by going to https://forms.gle/cGYveW3HFtS7yDij8.

Hill

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