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.

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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.