Life around the lake was anything but dull. There was a hotel and saloon right on the edge of the lake and partygoers were not only able to enjoy themselves on the shore, but could, if they wished take a dinner cruise around the lake in one of the three steam boats that plied the lake in summer.

These steamboats were largely due to the efforts of a man named Purley Merchant and his son, who it is rumored built the steam engines for the boats. The first and most clearly documented boat was called "The Eulalia". There are still photographs around which show the Eulalia and its passengers, with Purley Merchant at the controls.

Some months ago, after a number of fruitless dives looking for the steam barge, I was beginning to doubt the truth of the rumors about the barge, when I was privledged to be invited to the home of Don and Karen Foley in Norwich. The purpose of the visit was to see the steam whistle which had come off the steam barge. It had been given to Mr. and Mrs. Foley, by Gunner Nelson, Mrs. Foley's grandfather and as I looked at that steam whistle, I realised that the rumors were actually based in fact.

From the surface Guilford lake looks small, and in fact you can row a boat or canoe from one side of the lake to the other in a short time. Why then should it be so hard to find something as large as a boat? The answer is the visibility. When diving the lake at the depth the boat is supposed to be at, (60 feet), the visibility is zero. The small cone of light thrown off by the dive light is all you can see, so you have to imagine searching acres and acres of bottom, three feet at a time, with no reference point to show where you've been.

The third boat which plied Guilford lake was called "The Mist Maid", or so it is rumored. In some newspaper articles I've read the reference to this boat describes a 20 to 35 foot beam, so it is a fairly large boat. It too was reportedly steam powered but there is no further clues as to what became of this boat or what year it ceased to operate.

I often wonder as I am diving, descending the banks of the lake into colder and darker water, if the original owners and operators of these boat, could have ever guessed that people, almost a century later would be interested in what they were doing? Could they have imagined that we would be able to strap our air supply to our backs and safely go hunting for clues to the life that they took very much for granted, because it was their day to day life?

And the lake, with its still cold waters and dark depths has been a silent witness to all the living and the dying that has gone on for all these years. I wonder if I will ever find some remains of the ice sled that broke through the ice taking its tools and its team of horses to the bottom with it. Or the belt buckle of the man who, despondent about something, went out on the lake, weighted himself down and jumped out of his boat, never to be seen again.

Only continued diving will answer some of the questions and even all the diving I can do will never answer them all.