Archeologists on Sable Island uncover key evidence pointing to 1812 triple shipwreck

Archaeologists have uncovered shipwreck remnants on Sable Island.

HALIFAX — A partial shipwreck discovered on Sable Island two years ago is believed to be the remains of a speedy Bermuda sloop that was loaded with rum when it sank during the War of 1812, archeologists say.

Parks Canada archeologist Brandy Lockhart says it took many months to develop a working theory about the wreck because the shifting sands of the island 300 kilometres southeast of Halifax rarely give up clues about the 350 shipwrecks recorded there since the late 1500s.

“We can find lots of different shipwreck remains or fragments throughout Sable Island, but having an (identifying) feature on it is rare,” Lockhart said in an interview Wednesday.

“Being able to actually identify a wreck and align it with historic documentation is very rare”

In this case, a portion of the mystery ship’s well-preserved upper deck was spotted just below the sandy surface of the island’s North Beach in 2024. But the vessel’s identity could not be gleaned from its rotted timbers alone.

“It had kind of been uncovered from one of the (eroding) dunes,” Lockhart said.

“Sable Island is very dynamic. The sand and the dunes shift and move, and (shipwreck) fragments ... will be uncovered. And then, within days or weeks, they might be covered back up again.”

In 2022, a researcher on the island turned up a small pulley with a tiny arrow stamped into a metal plate -- a distinctive marking known as a broad arrow. It was used by the British Royal Navy to identify its property.

Other similarly marked wood and copper fragments were found nearby, suggesting a possible connection to three vessels in a small British navy convoy that were wrecked off the island’s north shore in September 1812.

At first, the archeologists thought the mystery ship might be HMS Barbadoes, a Royal Navy frigate with 28 guns.

Lockhart said that before the big ship sank, it was headed to Halifax with a load of silver, which would be paid to British sailors. Along the way, the ship’s crew managed to capture an American vessel and take its crew members as prisoners of war.

In May of last year, a team of Parks Canada archeologists returned to the island to take a closer look at the partial deck, which seemed to be too small to fit a 43-metre warship.

An analysis of the wood determined it was Bermuda cedar. That finding led the researchers believe the mystery ship was a single-masted Bermuda sloop known as the Swift. It was headed to Newfoundland with the convoy when it sank.

“If verified, the discovery marks a rare occasion of researchers correlating a shipwreck site on Sable Island with a documented historical wreck event from before the 20th century,” Parks Canada said in a statement released Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Lockhart said the archeological work she completed on the island was sometimes challenging.

On the first day of a two-week trip, strong winds whipped up stinging curtains of sand.

“As you’re trying to excavate, the sand is just filling everything in,” she said. “You stand up and get a faceful of sand blasted at you …. But in 2024, we were working in T-shirts.”

As well, she said Sable Island’s famous horses weren’t hard to spot.

“They don’t seem to mind that you’re there,” Lockhart said. “You’ll be working on a shipwreck and the horses will come in and check it out … They like to use the shipwrecks as scratching posts.”

By Michael MacDonald

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2026.