Latest news with #OMHC
NDTV
16-05-2025
- Science
- NDTV
8-Year-Old's Metal Detector Unearths 200-Year-Old Shipwreck In Ontario
An eight-year-old child in Canada's Ontario has managed to discover a nearly 200-year-old shipwreck by using nothing but a metal detector. Lucas Atchison made the discovery two years ago when he was on a family trip to the Point Farms Provincial Park near Goderich, according to a report in CBC. Using his metal detector, gifted by the family on his birthday, Atchison found a small steel spike that was attached to a piece of wood, having additional spikes on it. After alerting his dad, the duo started digging deeper and found that the spikes and the wood were part of an entire wrecked ship. "We were on the beach, we got our metal detector out, and as soon as we set it up, ding! It was a spike from the shipwreck," said little Atchison. "Then Dad told me, 'Lucas this is a shipwreck'. When I woke up that morning, I did not expect to find a shipwreck!" he added. Having made the discovery, the family reported the wreckage to provincial parks staff and subsequently reached out to the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee (OMHC) -- a non-profit dedicated to recording and preserving marine history. Excavation starts After acquiring the necessary approvals, excavation began at the site earlier this month, with OMHC finding more remnants of the ship, offering insight into the kind of vessel that lay beneath the ground all these years. "We had double frames, which seems to suggest that it was stronger-built ship and we believe that it was a schooner," said marine archaeologist Scarlett Janusas. "A schooner is usually a two-masted sailing vessel, usually wooden." Not enough wreckage has been recovered so far to surely ascertain the identity of the ship but as per the scientists, it could be the schooner St. Anthony, which sank in October 1856. "It was described as having gone ashore four miles north of Goderich, which fits about where this wreckage is, and this would only represent a very small piece," said marine historian Patrick Folkes. As the excavation continues, volunteers will complete scale drawings of the wreck, including a plan view (from the top) and profile (side view) of the wreck.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
8-year-old kid with a metal detector stumbles upon a 19th century shipwreck
A Canadian kid is proof that major scientific discoveries don't always have to come from grizzled researchers with fancy equipment. Two years ago, then-8-year-old Lucas Atchison went on a family trip to Point Farms Provincial Park in Ontario. Armed with a metal detector he had just received as a birthday present, Atchison dutifully scanned the area, hoping to hear that coveted 'beep.' Eventually, he did. Eagerly digging into the site, Lucas uncovered a metal spike, which his father initially dismissed as something used to tie up boats. But the budding archaeologist insisted they dig further. Soon, they uncovered another spike attached to a piece of wood. The father-son pair had likely stumbled on a two-century-old shipwreck. 'We were on the beach, we got our metal detector out, and as soon as we set it up, ding! It was a spike from the shipwreck,' Lucas recently told the CBC. Once the duo realized what they had found, they alerted the provincial parks staff, who then contacted the nonprofit Ontario Marine Heritage Committee (OMHC). The OMHC met with Lucas in 2023, but it took several years to obtain the necessary regulatory permits to excavate the area further. Finally, earlier this month, they began digging. Though still in the early stages, marine archaeologist Scarlett Janusas told the CBC that the shipwreck's 'double frames' suggest it is of the schooner variety. Work still needs to be done to definitively confirm the ship's identity, but archaeologists working on the project believe they may have a likely contender in the St. Anthony. That vessel wrecked near Lake Huron in 1856 during a trip transporting wheat between Chicago and Buffalo. Researchers at the site are currently creating sketches of the wreck from above and from the side to analyze it in more detail. They are also reportedly reviewing 19th-century insurance requirements for ships, which could provide clues about the vessel's identity and when it sank. Those documents outline specifications for ships at the time, such as the number of fasteners required in the frames. By cross-referencing those details against records of missing ships, they hope to definitively identify the wreck. Related: [Amateur metal detector uncovers massive Iron Age treasure hoard] Lucas' discovery is a nice reminder that, even today, in our seemingly mapped-out, modernized world, you never know what you might find with a trusty metal detector. His case is far from unique. In just the past few months, a Romanian man used a metal detector to uncover an ancient hoard of Roman coins. Even more recently, a Scottish man discovered a 4,000-year-old axe buried on his family farm. Sometimes, people may not even realize the significance of their finds until much later. Case in point: an Australian prospector named David Hole found a large rock with a metal detector in 2016, believing it to be a gold nugget. Only recently did he learn that it was actually a far rarer 4.6 billion-year-old meteorite. As for the Ontario shipwreck, researchers say they eventually plan to re-bury the find in an anaerobic, oxygen-free environment. That setting could help preserve it by protecting it from natural degradation caused by parasites and other organisms. Lucas, meanwhile, may be just beginning a long journey with his trusted metal detector.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'I did not expect to find a shipwreck!' says boy whose treasure is being excavated
During a family trip to Point Farms Provincial Park north of Goderich, Ont., in 2023, Lucas Atchison was using a metal detector that he got as a gift for his birthday, when he found something big and old. "We were on the beach, we got our metal detector out, and as soon as we set it up, ding! It was a spike from the shipwreck," Lucas said, who is now 10. He recalls alerting his dad, who at first thought the spike may have been used to tie up a boat. But Lucas wasn't convinced, and the pair started digging deeper. What they found was more spikes attached to wood. "Then Dad told me, 'Lucas this is a shipwreck,'" the boy explained. "When I woke up that morning I did not expect to find a shipwreck!" Dad Jason Atchison said they reported the find to provincial parks staff, and then reached out to the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee (OMHC), a non-profit volunteer group dedicated to recording and preserving marine history. This week, with Lucas keeping a close eye on the work, excavation on the shipwreck began with an OMHC team digging to see exactly what Lucas found. Excavation work begins The approvals process to dig takes time, with regulatory requirements needing to be met, according to marine archeologist Scarlett Janusas and marine historian Patrick Folkes. They first met the Atchisons in the fall of 2023 at the beach to show them where they should be looking. Then, on Wednesday, a group of volunteers from the OMHC arrived with heavy machinery supplied by the provincial park, and then switching to hand shovels, trowels and brushes to see what the sand had buried. So far, Janusas said they found a smaller portion of the ship than they had hoped, but determined the section was frames from the side of the ship. "We had double frames, which seems to suggest that it was stronger-built ship and we believe that it was a schooner," said Janusas. "A schooner is usually a two-masted sailing vessel, usually wooden." Maybe the St. Anthony? There wasn't enough of the ship to definitively determine its identity, but Folkes says one candidate is the schooner St. Anthony. "[It] was wrecked in October of 1856 on a voyage … from Chicago to Buffalo, New York, with a load of grain," he said. "It was described as having gone ashore four miles north of Goderich, which fits about where this wreckage is, and this would only represent a very small piece." The volunteers will complete scale drawings of the wreck, including a plan view (from on top) and profile (side view) of the wreck. Folkes says that 19th century insurance requirements would specify how many fasteners, or spikes, should be placed in the frames and at what distance. Those details, he said, will help determine the ship's age. What comes next might be surprising. The volunteers will then rebury the ship to preserve it. "We fill the hole back in, bury it and create an anaerobic environment, i.e. without oxygen, so you don't have any kind of parasites in there or any other organisms that will eat or destroy the wreckage," said Janusas. "It's not a perfect solution but it does maintain the structure of that ship probably for at least another 50 years."
