I haven't seen this anywhere else so I thought I'd post it here. It was submitted to the NDA Newsletter by David Gilchrist.
Oldest Great Lakes Shipwreck to be Completely Excavated
Marine archaeologist Ken Cassavoy says a shipwreck, believed to be the oldest ever discovered on the Great Lakes, is to be fully excavated on the Southampton Beach starting on May 17. Cassavoy says the wreck, dated to the late 1700's, probably is the merchant schooner "Weazell" built in 1786 at Detroit and lost at Southampton in 1798.
Low Lake Huron water levels and a spring ice scour in April of 2001 uncovered about a dozen ship frames pushing up through the sand of Southampton Beach. Since then, two short periods of test archaeological excavations on the site have revealed the presence of substantial remains of this earliest wreck, buried under the sand. During the 2002 work, excavators found a small-bore swivel cannon lying in the hold of the wreck, a unique find on a Great Lakes merchant ship.
On May 17th, the excavation team is to begin opening up the entire interior of the vessel as well as the full exterior on the starboard side of the schooner. Cassavoy says the excavation, carried out under his Archaeological License from the Ontario Ministry of Culture, is to take about eight weeks to complete and will provide full details on how this historic merchant vessel was constructed. It also will provide details necessary for the possible lifting, conservation and museum display of the wreck. At the same time, the work may provide artifacts which could help confirm the date and identity of the vessel.
The research and excavation of the shipwreck is supported by a number of businesses and institutions including; The Southampton Marine Heritage Committee; Trent University-Symons Trust Fund; Town of Saugeen Shores; Westario Power; Ontario Power Generation; Markle's Pumping Service; BJS Electric; Clearwater Well Boring; Electronic Data Systems/EDS; The Canadian Conservation Institute/CCI; and the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee/OMHC.
With no funding available for project crew, all the work will be done by volunteer excavators working under the direction of volunteer professional archaeologists. Cassavoy, a Research Associate at Trent University in Peterborough, says, "I doubt this kind of major archaeological excavation could be done anywhere except in a community such as Southampton and Saugeen Shores. The volunteer support of the general public, as well as area businesses and agencies is absolutely unbelievable. Without that kind of help we simply couldn't do the work on this extremely important shipwreck."
Anyone wishing to volunteer to work on the excavation can email the Southampton Beach Shipwreck Project at "shipwreck2004@yahoo.com. Southampton is located on the Lake Huron shore about 35 kilometres miles west of Owen Sound, Ontario.
[For more project information contact Ken Cassavoy, Marine Archaeologist/Project Director, Southampton Beach Shipwreck Project, 519/797-2944. Email <cassavoy@bmts.com>]
David Gilchrist
Oldest Great Lakes Shipwreck to be Completely Excavated
Marine archaeologist Ken Cassavoy says a shipwreck, believed to be the oldest ever discovered on the Great Lakes, is to be fully excavated on the Southampton Beach starting on May 17. Cassavoy says the wreck, dated to the late 1700's, probably is the merchant schooner "Weazell" built in 1786 at Detroit and lost at Southampton in 1798.
Low Lake Huron water levels and a spring ice scour in April of 2001 uncovered about a dozen ship frames pushing up through the sand of Southampton Beach. Since then, two short periods of test archaeological excavations on the site have revealed the presence of substantial remains of this earliest wreck, buried under the sand. During the 2002 work, excavators found a small-bore swivel cannon lying in the hold of the wreck, a unique find on a Great Lakes merchant ship.
On May 17th, the excavation team is to begin opening up the entire interior of the vessel as well as the full exterior on the starboard side of the schooner. Cassavoy says the excavation, carried out under his Archaeological License from the Ontario Ministry of Culture, is to take about eight weeks to complete and will provide full details on how this historic merchant vessel was constructed. It also will provide details necessary for the possible lifting, conservation and museum display of the wreck. At the same time, the work may provide artifacts which could help confirm the date and identity of the vessel.
The research and excavation of the shipwreck is supported by a number of businesses and institutions including; The Southampton Marine Heritage Committee; Trent University-Symons Trust Fund; Town of Saugeen Shores; Westario Power; Ontario Power Generation; Markle's Pumping Service; BJS Electric; Clearwater Well Boring; Electronic Data Systems/EDS; The Canadian Conservation Institute/CCI; and the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee/OMHC.
With no funding available for project crew, all the work will be done by volunteer excavators working under the direction of volunteer professional archaeologists. Cassavoy, a Research Associate at Trent University in Peterborough, says, "I doubt this kind of major archaeological excavation could be done anywhere except in a community such as Southampton and Saugeen Shores. The volunteer support of the general public, as well as area businesses and agencies is absolutely unbelievable. Without that kind of help we simply couldn't do the work on this extremely important shipwreck."
Anyone wishing to volunteer to work on the excavation can email the Southampton Beach Shipwreck Project at "shipwreck2004@yahoo.com. Southampton is located on the Lake Huron shore about 35 kilometres miles west of Owen Sound, Ontario.
[For more project information contact Ken Cassavoy, Marine Archaeologist/Project Director, Southampton Beach Shipwreck Project, 519/797-2944. Email <cassavoy@bmts.com>]
David Gilchrist
