Did you ever dream about finding a shipwreck full of treasure? David Head
did just that. He found the "Schooner in the Sand" in 1990.
"There was this path across the sand that had trees and everything
growing on it. I kept seeing this shape. Doesn't that look like a boat? The
outline of the sand made me sure it was a boat."
David had a tough time convincing grown-ups that he had found something
important. "They thought it was tree roots, or the way the bank was
eroding." Except for its bow, the ship was buried under about five feet
of wet sand, which helped preserve it.
In 1991 and 1994, student archaeologists from East Carolina University,
Greenville, North Carolina, investigated the wreck after water and sand were pumped
away (see photo of pumping, above). When they finished their investigation, the boat was again covered with sand to preserve it for future
study.
In
this photo, discoverer David Head (center, in blue shirt) visits the archaeological dig
at the schooner site. Many Upper Peninsula residents and school classes came
to learn about archaeology and the shipwreck.
