A brass pipe trade tomahawk was recovered as part the the "Carleton Island Project" in the early 1970's. See the Post-Standard story written by Roger Segelken entitled, "History Beneath the St. Lawrence" http://home.ix.netcom.com/~srhf/SRHF_Empire.html
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| Pipe Tomahawk just after it was recovered in 1973 |
The brass tomahawk head without its wooded Haft (shaft) was
recovered near the Revolutionary War period wreck in North Bay. The brass
tomahawk was fitted with a steel edge that was dovetailed in the blade and
hammered down into grooves in the head. The steel blade was covered with some corrosion.
In the Post-Standard article the blade is shown after preservation and very
little of it lost over the after 200 years that it was underwater.
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| Pipe Tomahawk before preservation. |
There are raised horizontal moldings across the eye just
below the neck, an engraved border, and conventionalized floral motif in the
center of the eye. The border continues along the front and back of the blade,
and down the center is engraved a single floral spray. According to American Indian Tomahawks By Harold L. Peterson, Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation 1971, page 123 this was one of the commonest forms of brass
tomahawk with dovetailed steel edge.