SEAHORSE CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SERVICES

The Prospect Boat Site, (1790) was located in Rouges Roost, Prospect Harbour in the early 1990s. Between 2001 and 2005, two reconnaissance underwater archaeological surveys were conducted followed by partial excavation of the wreck site with funding from a Nova Scotia Museum Marine History Research Grant. The excavation of the Prospect Boat Wreck Site formed the core of the Seahorse Cultural Resource Management Services director, Jonathan Kyte's Masters Dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol entitled, “The Prospect Boat and the Early Maritime History of Prospect.” The dissertation focused on the inshore fishery and vessel used during the early settlement of Prospect.

 

It was concluded the Prospect Boat was a 35ft lapstrake built shallop of 19 tons that was likely employed in the areas ‘planter’ fishery during the latter half of the eighteenth century and was wrecked during a weather event while seeking shelter in Rouges Roost. The wreck is characterised by heavy lapstrake construction possessing large cut frames of white oak. The framing arrangement was found to be characteristic of a late eighteenth century construction technique employed in similar vessels of that period.