The story of the JB King.

The St Lawrence river is a beautifull river and a blue highway of importance for the American and Canadian economies. Huge ships of all kind travel on top on wrecks and along awesome shores.

Since 400 years, men wanted to come up the rapids to go west to develop trade activities. After hundreds of years, we can now enjoy safe navigation on a seaway equipped with a number of locks. Navigation can be dangerous and forces of nature can be deadly.

June 26 1930, Ev Snider was working on the J.B King for that dreamed seaway.
It was his last day of work on what was the biggest drill boat in Canada at that time.

What we knew about the wreck.

The "King" was a 140 ft. wooden drill barge owned by John P. Porter and sons of St. Catherines. She was engaged in drilling and blasting to deepen the "narrows" to 27 ft. when she was struck by lightening and exploded June 26, 1930. U.S. Revenue Cutter "Succor" (CG 211) was patrolling nearby and heard the explosion and racing to the scene recovered 10 of the total 11 that survived out of a total 43 that had been on board. The site is just north of Cockburn Island in quick current and runs from 40 ft. to 155 ft. of depth at the edge of the downstream lane of the shipping channel.