In 2000, excavations in the fore-part of the Dauphine turned up a copper alloy colander, placed on a tin plate on the floor. To make up for its round bottom and lack of a base, the colander had been wedged in the recipient with a tin spoon. When it was found, it still held several cod vertebrae.

These utensils, preserved from the chaos that accompanied the wreckage of the ship, are evidence of what was doubtless of the last meals prepared aboard ship. They provide touching testimony to the final actions of the ship's cook or perhaps a sailor - placing the soaked, desalted cod in the colander to drain, and then taking care to place the recipient on the floor to prevent it from tipping over due to the ship's rolling in the storm.

We may compare this discovery with what we know about the wreck of the Dauphine on 11 December 1704. If we look up this date on a perpetual calendar, we can see that it was a Thursday, the day before the traditional weekly day of abstinence. By a stretch of the imagination, we could think of these vestiges as evidence of the cod that would be eaten on the following day.