As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War in North America, an important new film has been released about this global conflict between France and Britain. In October of 1758, the British deliberately sank their fleet on Lake George in upstate New York to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French and their Indian allies. They expected to return in the spring and refloat the fleet, but the radeau Land Tortoise, a floating gun battery and the largest boat in the fleet, was lost in the lake. Fifty-two feet long and 18 feet wide, the Land Tortoise was designed to mount seven cannon, a floating fortress.
252 years later it was relocated intact in 107 feet of water. Remarkably preserved by the frigid lake water, the seven-sided Land Tortoise was studied by underwater archaeologists and volunteer divers and photographers from Bateaux Below, a non-profit organization. Today, it is an underwater preserve managed by the state of New York and open to sport divers. This engaging film tells the story of the boat, its discovery, investigation, preservation, and interpretation. State-of-the-art animation recreates the radeau as it may have been in 1758. It’s a remarkable success story for underwater archaeology and a lesson for the nation. —Mark Michel
