IDENTIFICATION OF WOOD AND POLLEN AND PHYTOLITH ANALYSIS OF BILGE SEDIMENT FROM A SHIP ASSOCIATED WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENOBSCOTT EXPEDITION

Five ship wood samples were submitted for identification. Sediment from the bottom of
the bilge also was examined for both pollen and phytoliths. This ship is believed to have been
part of the Revolutionary War Penobscott Expedition. In 1779, an expeditionary force consisting
of Federal Navy, Massachusetts Navy, and privateers headed up the Penobscott River in Maine
to attack a British fort at the mouth of the river. The American ships were trapped, then
scavenged and burned. Wood samples were identified to provide evidence that this ship was,
indeed, American made. Pollen and phytoliths were examined from sediment collected in the
bilge to provide additional evidence about the ship, time of year that the ship sank, or other
information.