During a family trip to Point Farms Provincial Park north of Goderich, Ont., In 2023, Lucas Athison used a metal detector that he received as a birthday gift when he found something big and old.
“We were on the beach, we pulled out our metal detector and as soon as we set it up, Ding! It was a shipwreck,” said Lucas, who is now 10.
He remembers signaling to his father, who initially believes that the jump may have been used for a boat cord. But Lucas was not convinced and the couple began to dig deeper. What they found were more spikes attached to a tree.
“Then Dad said to me,” Lucas this is a shipwreck, “the boy explained.” When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect to find a shipwreck! “
Haley Sterling, left and Lorna Missner remove more sand from the shipwreck. Both are first -year students in Anthropology at the University of Trent and are trained to make large -scale drawings of the remains of archaeologist Leslie Curry. (Andrea Belemare)
Daddy Jason Athison said they reported that the find of provincial park employees and then turned to the Ontario Maritime Heritage Committee, a non -profit volunteer group dedicated to recording and preserving naval history.
This week, as Lucas closely monitors work, excavations on the shipwreck began with a team of OMHC, which digs to see what Lucas found.
Excavation work begins
Scarlett Janusas, a recently retired marine archaeologist at the Ontario Maritime Heritage Committee, stands in the parking lot at the Point Farms provincial park. Janusas says a piece of destruction that Lucas has found is probably a schooner, a two -month -old sailing ship. (Sent by Scarlett Janusas)
The process of digging approval takes time, with regulatory requirements being fulfilled, according to marine archaeologist Scarlett Janusas and marine historian Patrick Volks.
They first met with the Atchini in the fall of 2023 on the beach to show them where to look for. Then, on Wednesday, a group of OMHC volunteers arrived with heavy machines delivered from the provincial park, and then switched to shovels, trowels and brushes to see what the sand had buried.
Until now, Janusas said they had found a smaller part of the ship than they had hoped, but they have determined that the section is frames on the side of the ship.
Allison Hooper you are looking for more sand between wooden frames that would be the side of the schooner. Two trowels and small dust pans rest on the wood. (Andrea Belemare)
“We had double frames, which seems to suggest that it was a stronger ship and we believe it was a schooner,” Janusas said. “The schooner is usually a two -hearted sailing vessel, usually wooden.”
Maybe St. Anthony?
There was not enough from the ship to finally determine its identity, but Volks says that a candidate is the schooner St. Anthony.
“[It] was destroyed in October 1856 on a journey … From Chicago to Buffalo, New York, with grain load, “he said.” It has been described that he went on the shore four miles north of Goderich, which fits in where this remains are and this will only be a very small piece. “
Jason and Stephanie Athison, with Lucas, left, watching the volunteers measure and document the remains. Note that much of the sand has been moved with a digging machine to facilitate access to the remains and the sand will be replaced afterwards. (Andrea Belemare)
Volunteers will complete large -scale drawings of the remains, including a plan (top) and profile (side view) of the remains.
Volks says that the 19th -century insurance requirements would specify how many fasteners or spikes should be placed within and at what distance. These details, he said, will help determine the age of the ship.
What follows may be surprising. The volunteers will then restore the ship to keep it.
“We fill the hole back, bury it and create an anaerobic environment, ie without oxygen, so you have no parasites there or other organisms that will eat or destroy the remains,” Jususa said.
“This is not a perfect solution, but it maintains the structure of this ship at least another 50 years.”