Ongoing Research at the Fort Saint-Jean: Excavation of a Presumed Late 18th-Century/Early 19th-Century Mystery Shipwreck

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Exploring the Maritime Archaeology of the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain Valley: Ongoing Research", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Since 2016, the Fort Saint-Jean Museum has been involved in an underwater archeological project on its riverfront to document its submerged cultural heritage. The first phase of the project (2016-2018) led to the discovery of two new archeological sites and the monitoring of a third which had previously been identified. One of these sites was confirmed to be a shipwreck in 2018. Its architectural features led to an identification as a late 18th century or early 19th century shipwreck, placing it at the core of historical events at the fort Saint-Jean during the 1775 and 1812 events.

In 2021, a short monitoring campaign investigated the site, and helped to identify the changing underwater conditions and how this affected the site. In September 2023, the second phase of the project was launched with an excavation of the shipwreck. This paper will focus on the 2023 results and updated hypothesis.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Exploring the Maritime Archaeology of the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain Valley: Ongoing Research

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow