War Schooner Royal Savage: Interpreting Disarticulated Ship Remains from the American War of Independence

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.

The schooner Royal Savage played a pivotal role as the flagship of Benedict Arnold’s squadron in the American Continental Army’s defense of Lake Champlain against the British during the American Revolution. Misfortune led to her sinking during the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776, and the wreck was left undisturbed for over 150 years until, in 1935, her remains were rediscovered and salvaged for exhibit in a museum that never materialized. Instead, the hull was disassembled and passed undocumented through several owners before being returned to the U.S. Navy in 2015. Currently a disarticulated assemblage of timbers, the remains have been documented and studied to better understand the design and use of the schooner. This presentation covers the ship’s sinking, recovery, and the current documentation and interpretation effort - a joint Navy-Texas A&M University research project which includes the development of two scale ship models based on archaeological research.

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