The Artifacts
Archaeological excavations confirmed the early date of the schooner. Hand
wrought hooks and rigging thimbles, rough hewn timbers and pre-Civil War
bottle forms and china styles all are typical of the early years of Michigan
statehood.
One of the last artifacts excavated in the 1994 season was this bronze
handbell. It was in the storage cabinet just behind the cargo hold bulkhead
on the starboard (right) side. The bell might have been used to announce
watch changes or mealtimes, to awaken the crew during an emergency, or to
signal other ships in fog or at night.
Barrels
 Most of the schooner's cargo was packed in barrels or casks.
Twenty-eight barrels were excavated in 1994. A few
barrels held well preserved fish remains. This scene from the exhibit
features reproductions of the barrels.
 The largest
number of barrels, found
together near the center of the ship, were completely empty. Most of the empty barrels had numbers marked on their heads. Many also
had painted markings, which began to fade as soon as they were exposed to
the air. These provided clues that led researchers to conclude that the
barrels had held salt for preserving fish. The wet environment of the wreck
had gradually dissolved all the salt.
The schooner
apparently picked up barrels of fish as it
went along and carried them to its home port or perhaps to market. In
addition to its deliveries and pickups, the schooner's crew may have added
its own catch to the cargo.
 In addition
to the barrels, the Millecoquins schooner carried supplies—fishhooks, utility knives and
salt—that were probably intended for small fishing stations along Lake
Michigan's north shore.
Marked Artifacts
 Remarkably,
archaeologists found legible paper shipping labels when they excavated this
box of tea. Knowing the labels would fade quickly with exposure to air, they
photographed them to capture the information they contained. The tea was
Young Hyson, imported by "F[oster] and Co."
 Solomon Purdy was
among the New England potters who moved to Ohio when large deposits of clay
were found there. He made the stoneware jar in this exhibit case sometime between his arrival in
1812 and 1828, when he settled in Mogodore, near Akron, and began marking
his wares with the name of that town.
Salt-glazed stoneware
was a popular material for food storage containers in the early 19th
century. It was relatively cheap, resisted corrosion from acidic foods and
was extremely durable.
William Ridgway and
Co. marked its ceramic wares, including the rose-and-white tea bowl in the
exhibit, with the anchor and
urn between 1834 and 1854. "Tyrolean" is the name of the pattern.
We would call this a saucer today. In the early 19th century, people poured
tea from the cup into a dish like this so that the tea would cool, then
drank from the dish.
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