These crude metal cups and this tin plate were used for the whole of a soldier's life. Since meals were an endless succession of broth, boiled meat and vegetables, there was no need for plates and serving dishes of varying sizes.
The mess tin was recovered during a major archaeological excavation at Amherstburg, Ontario. Large quantities of goods being shipped to Fort Malden ended up on the river floor and were only recently discovered. The finds included mess tins, parts of uniforms, and crates of clay pipes. Most soldiers smoked such pipes, which kept getting shorter and shorter as the stem broke, until the bowl was right up against the smoker's face. Archaeology of this nature is revealing many small, unrecorded facts about the lives of soldiers in Canada. Since most of their activities while off duty were unofficial, no record of them exists in the ledger books of correspondence which have survived. Instead, it is the jew's-harps and dice found by archaeologists which help us to understand the lives of these men.
Courtesy: Old Fort Henry, Kingston, Ontario Parks Canada
