Efforts to free the Mills proved futile and a violent storm tore her to pieces, ending her 45-year career of carrying lumber and coal throughout the Great Lakes. During recent years, the David W. Mills has found a new career as a popular recreational dive site. The pamphlet guides divers around the wreck site, promotes the preservation of submerged historic sites, provides a history of the Mills, and tells the story of steam power on the Great Lakes. The underwater dedication was broadcast live on regional evening news programs. A mooring buoy is now available at the wreck for dive boats, and a hazard buoy has been placed on the ship's boiler.
Access is free.
Resting in only 12 to 25 feet of water, the Mills is a relaxing dive for divers of all skill levels. Because she broke apart during a storm, the Mills provides divers with a look at how steamships were constructed over a century ago. The largest intact section of the wreck is the bottom of the ship. The ship' backbone, called the keel, runs the length of the section and rises four feet off the bottom. You can see about 35 feet before the green tint of Lake Ontario obscures your surroundings.