After more than 160 years, the twin masts of the Milan still stand erect _ all the more remarkable because the commercial sailing ship sits in the dark depths of Lake Ontario."It almost looks like it could be floated" to the surface, said shipwreck explorer Dan Scoville on Monday.

Scoville and fellow explorer Jim Kennard located the schooner in the summer of 2005 off the southern shore of the lake. They videotaped the 93-foot-long, square-stern vessel this year using an unmanned submersible built with the help of college students.

The ship sits upright on the lake bed at a depth of more than 200 feet. Its masts extend 70 feet upward in the dark waters.

"At those depths, and the water being so cold, there's not a lot of oxygen" Scoville said."It basically helps preserve the wood. If a shipwreck is in shallow, fresh water, the ice will get it or storms will beat it up."