Investigations
at the Millecoquins River Shipwreck Site
By John R. Halsey, State Archaeologist of
Michigan and Frank J. Cantelas, Program in Maritime History and Underwater
Research, Department of History, East Carolina University
This article was originally a paper presented at the Lansing Diver's
Showcase, November 2, 1991, Lansing, Michigan.
 The
accidental discovery of the Millecoquins River shipwreck site (20MK265) by
David Head and David Archambeau in the spring of 1990 set in motion a
series of actions that culminated in large-scale excavations by a crew
from East Carolina University at the site in September 1991. It has only
been through the intense interest and good will expressed by a number of
parties that we are able to give this preliminary report on the remarkable
results of those excavations today. Foremost, we must thank the members of
the Hiawatha Sportsman's Club and their manager Morrie Allen. Without
their complete cooperation neither the preliminary studies nor the 1991
excavations would have been possible.
We also gratefully acknowledge the
financial contributions of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime
History and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Many people have
given freely of their time and expertise, especially Pat Labadie, June
Perry, Ken Pott, Jay Martin, Harley Seeley, LeRoy Barnett, Ted McCutcheon,
Henry Barkhausen and the late Walter Hirthe. Personnel in the Department
of Natural Resources and Transportation were instrumental in obtaining
necessary permits and materials. In this presentation, the senior author
takes responsibility for all interpretations and errors of
interpretations. The junior author has provided information relating only
to the 1991 excavations.
Investigations in 1990 and
1991
The story of the Millecoquins River shipwreck actually goes back more than
140 years, to July 23, 1849. click
on photos to view larger images |
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In
July 1849 United
States Deputy Surveyor William Ives and his crew had finished their survey
of the Lake Michigan shoreline in Section 30, Township 43 North, Range 9
West. In his notes Ives reported, "About the middle of the course is
the Reck of a small Vessel with the Hull nearly covered with sand. Masts
broken & stubs upright. It has probably lain there 2 or 3 years." |
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Comparison
of Ives' original map and the contemporary situation shows that the mouth
of the Millecoquins has migrated about one-half mile to the west, or
exactly to the location where Ives' originally reported the wreck. |
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David
Head and David Archambeau reported their discovery of the wreck to local
DNR authorities and in short order John R. Halsey, State Archaeologist of
Michigan was notified. In early May he visited the site to photograph the
site, assess the condition of the wreck and its possible significance. The
wreck was protruding from a very actively eroding bank. |
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About
12 feet of the starboard side was exposed. The topmost remaining plank had
dried and sprung free near the bow. |
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The
starboard side also vividly displayed signs of burning on the frames of
the vessel. |
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The
port side of the wreck revealed tight planking and distinct remains
of white paint. |
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The
bow of the vessel thrust defiantly into the Millecoquins as though she
were determined to yet sail away with her burden of 140 years' worth of
sand. |
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In
June 1990 Halsey returned to the site accompanied by Pat Labadie and with
the assistance of Morrie Allen and Jim Price of the Hiawatha Sportsman's
Club, cleared vegetation to allow easier access to the
site. |
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Attempts
by Halsey and Labadie to define the outline of the ship by using metal rod
probes were unsuccessful. They were offered the loan of mechanical
equipment by the Hiawatha Sportsman's Club and the offer was accepted. |
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In early summer
1990, documentary research provided a possible
identity for the wreck, the schooner Forester, which was reported to have
gone ashore in the Straits area in 1846. Field investigations were
conducted operating under the assumption that the wreck was that of the Forester,
a schooner built on the Clinton River in the 1820s and
having a
length of 58 ft x 17 ½ ft x 4 ft, 8 in, and a displacement of
30 36/95 tons. With these measurements as a guide, Halsey and Labadie cut
a trench where they calculated the midships area to be. |
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They
did find both sides of the ship and the width measurement was almost
exactly 17 ½ feet! |
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Labadie
"dove" the area underneath the bow and found it also to be
remarkably intact. |
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The
trench was backfilled the same day. |
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A
fabric silt barrier was erected in the river and the Club's backhoe was
used to clear the 5 to 6 feet of sand covering the wreck. |
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This
shot shows the outline of the vessel looking from the stern towards the
bow. Excavation began simultaneously at both ends and proceeded toward the
middle. Although the wreck is still quite intact below the water line, it is not completely watertight. |
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This
view of the bow shows that constant pumping was necessary as excavations
went below the river level. The crew is working in the forecastle, or bow
cabin area. The starboard berth is missing, but the bench situated below
the berth, and the opening for the storage area, is clearly visible. |
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This
close-up of the bench shows that the lid of the storage area is missing.
Lying in the opening are a fragmentary barrel lid and handles of three
metal scraping tools. These tools have triangular heads and were probably
used for scraping the hull. The large iron kettle was used for heating
pitch to caulk the ship's seams. A leg from an iron stove was also found
in the forward area. A leather boot resting between the kettle and the
bench shows the high quality of preservation present at this site. |
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The
foremast step is located in the center of the forecastle cabin, about 8 ½
feet from the stem post. This is an unusual configuration. Normally steps
are mortised into the keelson. The step shown in the slide is mortised
into a timber resting on top of the keelson and both the step and timber
are oriented athwart ship. The mast itself was not found, but keeping with
traditions dating back to at least Roman times, a coin was found in the
bottom of the mortise. The coin is an 1833 Large Cent. |
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Aft
of the forward cabin, the excavators encountered ship's stores and cargo.
A surprising discovery was this small barrel filled with tobacco, still
having a sweet and pungent smell. As work progressed toward the stern,
other barrels were encountered. Some barrel contained fish bones and
scales. These too were pungent. A small chest of tea was also found. |
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After
the artifacts were uncovered, documented and removed, construction details
were recorded and profiles made of the hull form. The hull was
double-framed and planked both inside and out. The vessel was built
entirely of oak. |
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The
typical square stern common to vessels of the nineteenth century is
apparent in this slide. Note the large V-shaped notches cut into the stern
transom timber. After the vessel was stranded on the beach, someone
chopped the iron spikes out of many of the large timbers. The upper deck
area was also burned off, apparently to salvage iron nails and spikes for
reuse. We do not know exactly when this happened, but it was probably
after 1849. It is also likely that the "stubs" of the masts seen
by Ives were removed during these crude salvage efforts, as there were no
traces of them in the wreckage. There were no apparent attempts to salvage
the interior of the vessel. |
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The
stern cabin proved to be in spectacular shape. The cold, fresh water and
the oxygen-free environment found below the water table are perfect for
preserving wood and other organic remains. Two sleeping berths, lying end
to end, were found on each side of the cabin. The berths on the starboard
side and the wooden bulkhead between them can be seen in the upper center
area of the photograph. Personal items were recovered
from this space. A shaving kit, several empty wine bottles, a bottle
filled with hot peppers, a brass candle stick, percussion caps for a small
gun, and a set of weights for a balance scale were just some of the
artifacts recovered. |
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This
view gives a closer look at the starboard berth and settee. The horseshoe-shaped settee,
which had storage space
below, similar to that found in the bow. At this depth,
water inflow was a constant problem and the pumps had to be run constantly
to continue work. A served hemp line (rope wrapped in leather to protect
it from chafing while in use) is seen just behind the pump hose. Its
precise use has not been determined, but it was probably part of the
rigging. |
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This
close-up of the stern cabin area also shows the remarkable preservation
and especially those areas that were painted as opposed to unpainted zones
hidden behind woodwork. |
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Fine
quality wood molding was used in the stern cabin. Its white paint remains
beneath the black stain of nearly a century and a half of burial in the
Lake Michigan beach. |
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Recovering
artifacts from the storage area proved to be dirty, but enormously
exciting work. The captain and his mate lived in this cabin and their
belongings were found packed away just as they had left them. |
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In
both the bow and the stern, transverse profile drawings were made every
five feet in areas exposed by excavation. Finished drawings made from this
reveal the shape of the hull. Little is known about the form and
construction of Great Lakes vessels built during the first half of the
nineteenth century. An enormous wealth of information is contained in the
hull structure itself, regardless of the other artifacts found inside. |
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Work
was completed on September 13, 1991 and the site was backfilled, seeded
and covered with straw to return the area as quickly as possible to a
natural state. Later in the fall, the Hiawatha Sportsman's Club
constructed an erosion control barrier in the river around the bow. The
entire bow area was then covered with sand protecting the vessel from
possible vandalism and the drying effects of exposure to air. |
Too
Many Foresters!
The excavation
phase of this project is over, for now at least. Like most archaeological
excavations it raised many questions, some of which severely challenge
previous assumptions. The greatest of these assumptions is the
identification of the Millecoquins shipwreck as the schooner Forester,
built in the 1820s on the Clinton River in southeastern Michigan. As
recent as two weeks ago, Halsey was still defending the Forester identification, but now the weight of archaeological evidence and a
reassessment of available documentary evidence have convinced him that it
cannot be. What was the evidence that convinced him initially? What
evidence changed his mind?
The evidence for
the Forester was initially convincing. 1. Maritime historians (which
Halsey is not) were unanimous in their view that the Millecoquins wreck
was of early design. 2. It was in the precise location where a wreck had
been reported in 1849. 3. There was a vessel named the Forester reported
ashore in the Straits area in 1846. 4. The enrolled width measurement of
the Forester appeared to be directly matched by a measurement obtained by
Labadie and Halsey during their limited excavations.
Everything tied
together so neatly! All that was necessary now was to find the interior of
the wreck filled with wheat, which the Forester was carrying.
The desire of the
Association for Great Lakes Maritime History to publish an interim report
on the Millecoquins excavations led Halsey to review the preliminary
excavation results, "old" documentation and documentation
available to him the first time. The "old" documentation
consisted of a brief notice, which appeared in the Daily Sentinel and
Gazette of Milwaukee on Wednesday morning October 28, 1846. It said,
Marine
Disasters — We learn that the schr. Forester, loaded with Wheat, (6,500
bushels,) and bound from Chicago to Buffalo, went ashore at Old Mackinac,
in the blow some days since. We have not heard what probability there is
of saving either vessel or cargo.
In a Michigan
History magazine article, Halsey admitted the "Old Mackinac"
location was a problem, but was convinced that Old Mackinac in this case
was simply a code word for the broad area of the Straits of Mackinac. But
there were bigger problems. Excavations had not revealed a single grain of
wheat at the Millecoquins site despite excellent conditions for
preservation of organic materials. There were also obvious evidences of
boxed and barreled cargo. Ted McCutcheon's measurements also strongly
suggested that the measurements of the Forester would not have allowed for
a cargo of 6,500 bushels of wheat.
In late October
1991, Cantelas provided transcripts of two articles from the Chicago Daily
Journal. On Friday October 16, 1846 the Journal reported, "Schr
Forester cleared Oct. 15, 1846. McHarney, Buffalo 4700 bush wheat, 16 fh."
On the 28th, the Journal reported, "The
propeller St. Joseph, in good order and well conditioned arrived in port last night. —
She reports the schooner Forester hence for Buffalo with wheat, ashore in
the Straits. No particulars given."
The critical piece
of information was the name of the Forester's captain. Using this
information Halsey consulted the Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Collections and found the following piece of information in a reminiscence
by a George Ruddiman, a pioneer in Muskegon County, "The schooner
Forester was the first vessel I remember being built on Muskegon lake. She
was built in 1847 by William Lasley, under the charge of Capt. McHarry."
A quick call to Pat
Labadie led to the determination that a schooner Forester had been built
in Muskegon, but in 1846, not in 1847. McHarry and McHarney? Or were they
the same person? 1846 or 1847? Were newspapers (or historical collections)
any less capable of producing typographical errors in the 1800s than
today? Could Mr. Ruddiman's memory of the construction of the Forester (in
which he had no role or stake) 50 years earlier been off by a year? Most
troublesome of all was Pat's information that the "Muskegon"
Forester was enrolled through the Civil War!
The Millecoquins
shipwreck riddle has now become somewhat clearer, but pieces are still
missing. It appears almost certain that the Forester that went aground in
1846 was the "Muskegon Lake" and not the "Clinton
River" Forester. The names of captains almost match. The
"Muskegon Lake" Forester was larger and might have been able to
carry the 6,500 (or was it 4,700?) bushels of wheat. It also seems likely
that the Forester stranded in 1846 was salvaged and sailed for at least 20
more years.
What then is the
identity of the wreck at the mouth of the Millecoquins? Could it be the
"Clinton River" Forester? This seems unlikely at this point
because the length measurements do not match; the wreck is about four feet
longer than the length given in the enrollments. Enrollments for the
"Clinton River" Forester stop in 1843. We do not now know what
happened to it after that year.
Where do we go from
here? Research to this point has not identified a single credible
alternative to the Forester. The identity of the Millecoquins ship is of
great interest to historians, archaeologists and the interest public.
However, whether or not we are ever able to attach a name to that tough
little wreck is secondary to the fact that we clearly have a sailing
vessel from the second quarter of the nineteenth century loaded with
precisely the kind of cargo the "Clinton River" Forester carried
most of its documented career. The remarkable wealth of information
obtained in the 1991 excavations has marked this location as one of the
most important maritime archaeological sites ever discovered in Michigan.
We hope that everyone interested in the Millecoquins wreck will take time
to reconsider historical documents or newspapers in their possession to
see if together, we can solve this riddle in the sands.
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