The Coast Guard noted that the vessel was reportedly taking on water during the previous evening, along the Niagara River near the Peace Bridge, but the boat operator managed to navigate it back into the safer waters of the Black Rock Canal before it began to sink.
That night, all four people on board made it off the boat safely and left the location. ECO Damrath coordinated with the yacht’s owner and the U.S. Coast Guard Pollution Response team to remove the vessel from the canal. There is no word on what caused the vessel to nearly sink.
The Black Rock Canal (also known as the Black Rock Channel of Black Rock Ship Lock) is a 3.5-mile waterway that runs parallel to the Niagara River. It was originally created in the early 1820s by blasting away a large outcropping of dark limestone — the “black rock” that gives the surrounding historic neighborhood its name…