December 1954 | Volume 6, Issue 1 The gray, water-soaked, mud-
stained skeleton of one of America’s first warships has been
raised from the bottom of Lake Champlain and is now on the beach
below Fort Ticonderoga. After thorough drying and protection,
the hulk will form the nucleus of a naval museum to be erected
on the shore below the towering battlements of the fort. Other
naval relics will be on display with it. The hulk is that of the
Trumbull , one of the fleet of sixteen ships built by order of
General Benedict Arnold in 1776 to contest the British invasion
which, one year later, culminated in Burgoyne’s defeat at
Saratoga. On October 11, 1776, Arnold’s makeshift fleet, manned
by land-lubber soldiers, met a British flotilla of five major
warships and a number of gunboats. The action succeeded in
imposing an expensive delay on the British invaders, but all
save three of the American ships were either sunk in action,
captured by the enemy or scuttled by their crews. The three
which remained escaped to Fort