Baylus Brooks went to Northeast Harbor and found more historic information on Seal Cove. At the shipwreck, volunteers and Acadia National Park staff joined the team members in drawing profiles and unmeasured cross-section sketches of the frames. Splitting into three groups (Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie), Crista, Steve, and Franklin assisted their team members by illustrating the proper documenting, measuring, and drawing methods necessary for recording the timbers.
As with many projects in the intertidal zone, thick mud inhibits mobility and obscures important details like the locations of limber holes and trunnels. Despite these modest hardships, the groups progressed steadily, finishing five frames completely and two halfway. Interestingly, the preliminary fieldwork results may illustrate some design features of the vessel. For example, the locations of the limber holes underneath the frames relative to each other could demonstrate design features. If the limbers line up, the frames might still be in their original positions. Post-depositional damage may have moved the frames making the locations inconsistent. Alternatively, the shipbuilders may not have placed the limbers in a straight line. Curiously, the holes seem small for a vessel this size, averaging about 2 ½ inches wide and 1 ¼ inches in height.
The trunnel patterning on the vessel is a significant source of information. Archaeologists have observed abundant wooden fasteners connecting outer hull to the frames, but also other pegs connecting futtocks to frames and there is a dearth of metal fasteners. Toward the end of the day today, one team found a metal fastener in place with the head intact, the first of its kind on the vessel. As work progresses, the team hopes to make other significant contributions to the site plan and the archaeology of the vessel.
—Steve Dilk