At the time of its discovery, no one had any idea of the possible identity of the Anse aux Bouleaux shipwreck. Neither toponymy nor local tradition had preserved traces of the wrecking. Researchers had to gather all the clues they could in order to solve this enigma.
The first step consisted in determining the vessel's origin and narrowing down the date of the wrecking. To do so, researchers studied the artifacts recovered or observed in 1995. The typology and the study of the form of objects of the glass bottles, muskets, and of a pistol suggested a date going back to the end of the 17th century or perhaps to the beginning of the 18th century. Ceramics, wine bottles, the weaponry and a pewter porringer tended to indicate an English origin, while a red clay pipe and a ceiling plank of white pine in the hull section pointed towards New England.
These first observations guided archival research. Contemporary documents were researched, as well as modern studies, in order to find indications of wrecks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence area. The period targeted through the artifact analysis, the end of the 17th century or the very beginning of the 18th century, sees the beginning of intercolonial wars between New France and New England. This corresponded with the first observations from the site: a possible English origin and the predominance of military-related objects (firearms, etc.). Two possibilities emerged from the documentary research: a ship from Sir Hovenden Walker's fleet which, in 1711, lost eight ships near Egg Island, only 25 km downstream from l'Anse aux Bouleaux, and a ship from Sir William Phips' fleet which lost four vessels coming back from its siege of Quebec City in 1690. Researchers explored these two possibilities while still keeping on the lookout for other hypotheses.
The next step consisted of comparing the known details on these wrecks with the information extracted from the Anse aux Bouleaux artifact assemblage. Although they comprised militia troops from New England, the bulk of the troops and crews of Walker's fleet were from the British army. On the other hand, the 1690 expedition had been a colonial initiative and all the troops were militia. The weapons found at l'Anse aux Bouleaux related more to a militia group since all were different and some had been personalized either with initials or decorative motifs. As for the location of the shipwreck, it did not match the account of the events of the wrecking of Walker's vessels. According to contemporary documents, Walker had detailed information on the losses the morning following the catastrophe, something hardly possible for the ship lost at l'Anse aux Bouleaux given its distance from Egg Island. Following the comparison of the site information with the documents, it seemed that the theory of a vessel from Phips' fleet was more plausible.
The confirmation of this hypothesis came when initials from two objects were compared with a list of the soldiers having taken part in the 1690 expedition compiled in the 19th century by W. K. Watkins. One of the objects, a musket, bore the initials "CT" on a small lead plaque. The other object, a pewter porringer, showed on its handle three letters positioned in a triangle: M, I and S. The position of the letters told us that the owner's initials were "IM" (the "I" could also have represented a "J") and that his wife's were "SM". Of all the names gathered by Watkins, only three could match these initials: Caleb Trowbridge and Cornelius Tileston for the "CT", and Increase Mosley for the "IM" (see Archaeological Expedition (1995)). It happened that the last two, Tileston and Mosley, were part of the same company, the company of Dorchester, Massachusetts, of which most of the men had disappeared without a trace with their ship. What is more, Increase Mosley's wife was named Sarah, which conforms to the initials on the porringer. The archaeological excavations did confirm that the ship wrecked at l'Anse aux Bouleaux was indeed part of Phips' fleet and that it had on board the Dorchester company. Ten or so objects have dates on them, all of which predate 1690, and another 15 or so bear initials matching those from the Dorchester list of soldiers.
If we know that the ship lost at l'Anse aux Bouleaux carried the Dorchester company, we still don't know with certainty the name of this vessel. According to Cotton Mather, who writes in 1697, four vessels were lost returning from Quebec City: one was lost without a trace, another wrecked with most of the men being saved by another ship, a third wrecked with only one survivor making it back to Boston many years later after a period of captivity and a fourth one, of Captain Rainsford, wrecked at Anticosti Island with a number of men coming back to Boston the following spring.
The loss of these four ships is confirmed by the Massachusetts General Court Records which also give their names: the Mary, 60-tun brigantine of Captain John Rainsford, the Mary Ann, a 70-tun ketch, the Hannah and Mary, a 40-tun ketch and the Elizabeth and Mary, a 45-tun bark.
Research in the archives has allowed us to make connections between the militiamen companies lost entirely or in part in these incidents, Mather's wrecks and the ships mentioned by the General Court Records: part of the Plymouth company was lost at Anticosti Island with Captain Rainsford's Mary; a handful of men of the Newbury company drowned during the wrecking of Mary Ann but most passengers were saved by another ship; the Dorchester company was lost without a trace; and only one soldier of the Roxbury company, Samuel Newall, came back to Boston, in 1695, turned over by the French after having been captured by the Indians.
Unfortunately, the information presently available does not allow us to determine on board which vessel were the Dorchester and Roxbury companies. The Anse aux Bouleaux shipwreck could either be the Elizabeth and Mary or the Hannah and Mary, but colonial-built. However, researchers keep looking for an answer and are presently following a few interesting clues... Stay tuned!
Marc-André Bernier
Autumn 1998
