About This Artifact
The fluke anchor was recovered at approximately 116 feet below the surface during the 1931 Chappell expedition, seven feet above the axe and eleven feet above the miner's pick. This makes it the shallowest of the three tools recovered during the dig. Fanthorpe described it as "an ancient anchor fluke which probably dated from the fourteenth or fifteenth century," a date range that would place it well before any known European settlement in Nova Scotia and centuries before the first recorded search of the Money Pit.
A fluke anchor is a small, portable anchor used on boats and smaller vessels, distinguished by its flat, pointed arms (flukes) that dig into the seabed. Anchors of this general design were used across European seafaring cultures from the medieval period onward, making precise attribution by form alone difficult. No metallurgical analysis of the Oak Island specimen has been publicly reported. Fanthorpe noted that anchors of this pattern were common on vessels ranging from fishing boats to coastal traders, meaning its presence does not by itself indicate a specific nationality or era beyond the broad medieval-to-colonial window.
The anchor's location more than a hundred feet underground in a shaft on a wooded island remains unexplained. If it was deposited by the original builders, its presence would suggest that maritime equipment was brought to the site as part of the construction operation, consistent with the coconut fibre, ship's putty, and other nautical materials found throughout the Money Pit. If it fell from a collapsed searcher shaft, no historical record identifies which expedition might have carried an anchor of this description to the site.
Historical Context
Chappell expedition
Where It Was Found
Found at Money Pit area, 116 ft depth — the original 1795 excavation shaft on Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
