The Ontario Marine Heritage Committee (OMHC) is very excited to announce the opening of the Ontario Marine Heritage and Underwater Archaeology Research Centre (OMH&UARC) in partnership with The Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre (BCM&CC).
The OMH&UARC will be housed in the Bruce County Archives & Research Room, located on the shores of Lake Huron in Southampton, Ontario. The Research Centre will become a repository for shipwreck documents and other underwater site information from areas across Ontario.
The creation of this centre is the result of an important new partnership between the BCM&CC and the OMHC. For the last 50 years, the OMHC has been active in the research, interpretation and preservation of underwater archaeological sites across Ontario. Volunteers from the OMHC will play a major role in both the initial development and ongoing activities of the new centre.
Arthur Amos Shipwreck Research Collection
The Amos Collection will be the first materials accepted into the new Ontario Marine History and Underwater Archaeological Research Centre.
Arthur Amos (1934-2020) was a long-time resident of Tobermory and spent nearly 50 years researching and conducting field work on shipwrecks in Bruce County, the Great Lakes, and beyond. Amos was also the owner of the Trails End Lodge, an avocational marine archaeologist, a historian, and a founding member of the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee (OMHC).
“The thousands of shipwrecks in Ontario all have interesting stories to tell about the people who built and sailed on them, their transportation of goods and passengers, navigational and environmental challenges, and their demise and eventual underwater discovery and identification,” says BCM&CC Archivist Deb Sturdevant. “
The Arthur Amos Shipwreck Research Collection contains information about the experiences of some of these ships and will be available to anyone interested in Ontario’s marine history, including historians, authors, archaeologists, genealogists, educators, and students.
The donated collection includes drawings, maps and nautical charts, news clippings, newsletters, photographs, statements of wrecks and casualties, and research files related to various geographical areas, shipwrecks, patents, and shipbuilding. This includes the research and booklet Amos produced on Rudders, one of the few specific shipwreck details that has been subject to studies in Ontario. The published books in the collection cover a wide variety of topics, including; general marine history, lake vessel registers, shipbuilding and identification, patents, seamanship and terminology, and cultural resource studies.
An inventory of items is available to download and view in BCM&CC’s Online Collections at: Arthur Amos Shipwreck Collection
Learn more at: The Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
