Divers Digging Out Pieces of Sunken Steamship ‘McPherson’ on Conesus Lake Floor

CONESUS LAKE — One of the most well known treasures that has sat sunken off the shore of Long Point Park is having pieces removed and brought to the shore by local divers.

According to our news partner 13WHAM, Kenny Sharp and his friends are removing artifacts and hope to put the pieces on display at Vitale Park.

“The ‘McPherson’ was the largest steamboat to ever grace Conesus Lake, named after Colonel James A. McPherson, of Avon who served in the union army,” said Lore DiSalvo, contributor to conesuslake.org. “He had the steamer built in 1882 for a cost of $7,000. It was built in Lakeville by Sam Kingston of Rochester and John Miller. In 1889, the steamer had new owners, Edwin Sackett and Grant Northrup, who renamed her ‘Starrucca,’ after the Erie viaduct.”

DiSalvo added that the steamer was 120 feet long, with a beam of 22 feet, 3 decks that were later changed to 2 decks, and a 100 horse power engine capable of carrying 1,000 passengers, but the ship was known to overload to 1,400 passengers. The steamer required a six-man crew, with the pilot house on the second deck.

A captain of the ship, William Keays, was awarded the ‘Lincoln Avenger’ medal for commanding the soldiers that captured and killed Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.