Luck Plays a Vital Role in Archaeology: The Story of the Fishing Schooner Frances Geraldine

Author(s): Jeff Enright

Year: 2013

Summary

Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. conducted an archaeological investigation of an unknown shipwreck in the Sabine River, Louisiana.  A little luck and persistent research identified the shipwreck as the Frances Geraldine, the last schooner built for the Lunenburg, Nova Scotia fishing fleet.  The famed shipyard of Smith & Rhuland (builders of the racing fishing schooner Bluenose) constructed the Frances Geraldine in 1944.  The Frances Geraldine spent the majority of her career in the Lunenburg fishing fleet before being sold in 1975 to interests in Texas.  She was subsequently abandoned in the late 1970s in the Sabine River.  The Frances Geraldine had a somewhat famous and unique career in the Lunenburg schooner fleet, and a brief career in Texas that may have involved questionable insurance practices.  This paper will examine the archaeological investigation of the shipwreck, as well as the interesting research avenues pursued that led to her identification.

Cite this Record

Luck Plays a Vital Role in Archaeology: The Story of the Fishing Schooner Frances Geraldine. Jeff Enright. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Leicester, England, U.K. 2013 ( tDAR id: 428492)

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Keywords

Temporal Keywords
Twentieth Century

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 458