Research Notes: An Eighteenth-Century Spanish Jar from the Queen Charlotte Islands

Abstract

Archaeological remains of Spanish settlers and explorers in the Northern Pacific along the British Columbia coast are rare, and until recently underwater remains have been completely unknown. Thus the discovery of a large fragment of an eighteenth century Spanish jar off the southeast coast of Langara Island at the north end of the Queen Charlotte Islands (fig. i ) is an interesting contribution to our knowledge of this relatively little known area of Spanish maritime activity (on which see Cook 1973). The object must also be counted among the earliest known European artefacts from British Columbia, antedating the recent discoveries of fur trading posts in the northwestern part of the province (Burley and Hamilton 1990-O • Fishermen seining for salmon in the summer of 1987 hauled up the jar (figs. 2 and 3 ) approximately two hundred metres off shore in about eight to ten fathoms (fifteen to eighteen metres) of water; in spite of the relative isolation of the site (five hours by sea from the village of Masset) it is frequently visited both by commercial fishermen and by sports fishermen from nearby floating lodges, but no other such finds have ever been reported. Unfortunately the upper and most diagnostic part of the vessel was broken off, perhaps centuries ago, and a final assessment of its identity is problematic. A preliminary investigation of the site by a small team from the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia (UASBC) was carried out in late September 1990; although no further remains were discovered it was only possible because of adverse weather conditions to survey a part of the area that was the source of the jar. The bottom area suitable for seining is relatively limited, as over much of the sea bed there are large boulders (probably glacially deposited in the last Ice Age) up to a metre in height. There is, however, a broad sandy stretch that possibly yielded the object. It may have been an accident of wave or current that exposed the toe or the broken upper end of the jar sufficiently to catch in the net as it dragged across the ocean floor.