SCITUATE, Massachusetts (4 Dec 2003) -- One hundred and fifty years ago last Friday, the Forest Queen, a cargo ship carrying 12 tons of Chinese silver, ran aground and broke up off Peggotty Beach in Scituate. Records show that the wreck of the Forest Queen was extensively salvaged, but pieces of the ship's cargo are still being brought to the surface. During the past decade, Quincy Fire Department Lt. Tom Mulloy, a Scituate resident and scuba diving enthusiast, has brought up artifacts ranging from broken bottles to a 73-pound solid silver ingot that still bears the stamped marks of the Chinese trading houses through which it passed. The artifacts - including part of a brass bugle inscribed with the name of Olney Lovett, the Forest Queen's captain - are on display at the Maritime and Irish Mossing Museum in Scituate. The bugle helped positively identify the wreck. Mulloy is a member of the Bassing Cove Maritime Association, which has the exclusive state permit to survey and excavate the wreck of the Forest Queen. Although the silver ingot is worth many thousands of dollars, he has no immediate plans to sell any of the artifacts, Mulloy said. ''We'd just as soon put it in a museum where it can be put on permanent display,'' he said. He said the educational value of the artifacts outweighs the monetary value. The Forest Queen, a 158-foot-long, full-rigged wooden cargo ship, was built in 1849 in Richmond, Maine. What would be its last voyage began in 1850 when the ship left its home port, New York, bound for ports in the Philippines and China. There, the crew picked up wares including indigo, red dye, brass novelties from India, Oriental porcelain, silver ingots, and an assortment of industrial metals. | | After sailing from China to London, it picked up additional trade goods and some passengers. The European artifacts that have been brought up from the wreck of the Forest Queen include ceramic jars from Cross & Blackwell of London, many champagne, wine, and gin bottles, and what are some of the oldest Worcestershire sauce bottles to be found in the United States. Leaving London, the Forest Queen sailed for the United States, with a stop planned in Boston. It ran aground off Scituate in a storm. A lull in the storm gave the crew a chance to get to shore and salvage much of the cargo. Everyone on board survived. When the storm intensified, the ship broke up and the debris was carried out to sea. Today, the ship's timbers are gone. ''It doesn't look like a ship at all,'' Mulloy said of the wreck. He said the artifacts are encased in chunks of concretion, a hard, solid mass of sediment. To recover artifacts, divers must bring chunks of concretion to the surface, then work with an archaeologist to chisel away the sediment. This makes it difficult to determine how many more artifacts remain at the shipwreck site, Mulloy said. The Bassing Cove Maritime Association plans to continue making dives to the site. Mulloy thinks additional silver ingots may remain buried there. A permanent Forest Queen exhibit can be viewed from 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays at the Maritime and Irish Mossing Museum. SOURCE - eNews |
