It was clear to anyone who saw the small cove where the shipwreck was located that it would be impossible to protect the archaeological remains at this spot. This became even more obvious when they considered how turbulent the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence become during a storm. One solution was to remove the remaining portion of the hull from the water as a single unit and preserve it in order to put it on display. However, given the resources required, this approach was simply unrealistic. There remained one viable solution, namely, to rebury the various components of the hull in a safe place in a marine or lake environment.
The researchers first surveyed the marine environment, looking for a site that:
- was deep enough (around 8 metres) to prevent the timbers from being damaged by ice or storm waves at low tide;
- would readily lend itself to annual site inspections;
- would be easy to locate;
- had a suitable bottom for reburial operations;
- was not likely to be disturbed by the ground fishery.
None of the sites visited in the vicinity of Anse aux Bouleaux met these conditions. Most of the sites that were deep enough were located more than one kilometre offshore, which would have made them difficult to find without a differential global positioning system (GPS). Moreover, they would have been particularly hard to inspect since such operations would be at the mercy of weather conditions given that high seas can make it impossible to dive for several days at a time. In addition, sites located that far from shore would truly be in danger of being disturbed by ground fishing activities. Although some spots in the vicinity of Pointe-des-Monts were deep enough, their bottom was too rocky and sloped to be suitable.
When an appropriate site was not found in a marine environment, the researchers turned their attention to the lakes around Anse aux Bouleaux. As previously, they looked for a site that:
- was deep enough (ideally, 5 or 6 metres, or deeper than the ice cover);
- was readily accessible;
- would be easy to locate;
- offered enough visibility for divers to work properly;
- had a sandy or soft clay bottom that would be suitable for reburial operations;
- was located in a place where the environmental impact would be minimal.
Several lakes are found in this region, but few met the necessary criteria. In the end, the researchers chose a lake whose water is relatively clear, owing partly to its soft, light clay bottom, and where a site with the right depth is readily accessible—features that make it easy to find the site and eliminate the need for lengthy trips to and from shore. Since the lake bottom also has a very gradual slope, it was not hard to find a flat spot suitable for reburying the ship's timbers. Site inspections can thus be easily conducted at all times. This lake, whose name will be kept secret for security reasons, offers another major advantage: since it is located in a controlled harvesting zone (ZEC), it is only accessible to people who pass through a gate where all visitors are registered when they enter and leave.
The reburial operations, which did not involve any digging, proceeded as follows:
- a 4-metre by 8-metre sheet of polypropylene was laid out on the bottom;
- a wall of sand bags was built around the edge of the sheet;
- the timbers were placed on top of the sheet;
- they were covered with a layer of loose sand measuring about 60 centimetres thick;
- a sheet of hypalon was laid on top of the sand;
- more sand bags were installed to keep the top sheet in place.
Control samples of the hull, whose characteristics and properties have already been recorded, are taken from the reburial site at regular intervals. This makes it possible to re-examine the structure without disturbing the site to determine whether its basic features are being altered over time. The same sampling method is used to evaluate anaerobic conditions within the mound.
The number of timbers buried in the lake is relatively small: some 40 frames and about 10 planks. The pieces were not re-assembled, but laid out so as to take up as little space as possible. The mound formed by the reburial operations measures 8 metres long by 4 metres wide and has a height of 1 metre.
