The scale Bateaux model boat, which was constructed by Dennis Cannady, was the overwhelming choice of Beaufort History Museum members and their guests for Museum display at Thursday's (September 15, 2022)  Hidden Beaufort Treasures Event.  A bateau or batteau is a shallow-draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade.  It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes. The name derives from the French word, bateau, which is simply the word for boat. "Bateaux" is actually the plural form spelling. In the southern United States, the term was and is still used to refer to flat-bottomed boats in general.

The Bateaux model received 52% of the votes cast with the closest competitor, the Japanese Bowl, receiving 29% of the votes. The remaining artifacts (Seamstress' Fluter and College of Beaufort Plaque) tied for third place.