All Adrift by Oliver Optic

The Missisquoi was aground. This result was exactly what the skipper of the Goldwing intended and expected, if the pilots of the steamer followed the schooner. Colchester Light is about west of a point having the same name. Extending north from Colchester Point is a shoal, on which, at the present low stage of the water, there was a depth of from two to eight feet. It was two miles and a half long from its northern extremity to the point.

Dory struck the shoal not more than a quarter of a mile north of Law Island, where the water was only about four feet deep. The Goldwing went over it without any difficulty; but there was not water enough for the steamer. Ordinarily a small steamer could have crossed any part of the shoal, but the lake had not been so low before for years.