The rivets that were recovered from the P.S. Lady Sherbrooke come from the boiler and other machinery that was dismantled at the time of the vessel's retirement. If the rivets are thought of as fasteners that are chiselled off it is understandable why they are all of a similar width. To dismantle the boiler a person had to cut each rivet that held the object in place.
Since the rivets held together two pieces of metal (see the image to the left) the width of all rivets is similar. In turn, this width, approximately 10-15 cm., tells us how thick the two pieces of metal were that made up the boiler. This is one example where the artefact leads to additional information that would otherwise be lost to researchers.
To see an image which will give you a better idea of where these particular artefacts were discovered on the P.S. Lady Sherbrooke you can click here or on the image.
