Dutch maritime investigators searching for missing containers washed overboard during a North Sea storm have accidentally stumbled on a 16th-century shipwreck, the oldest such a find to date, officials revealed on Wednesday.
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| Wooden beam from the shipwreck [Credit: AFP/Koen van Weel] |
The ancient wreck was discovered during a search for missing containers from the Panama-registered MSC Zoe, which lost almost 350 containers while battling a heavy storm in early January.
Tonnes of debris littered beaches on the Frisian islands, an archipelago off the northern Dutch coast, after the mishap.
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| The wreck was of a ship built around 1540 that had been carrying a load of copper plates [Credit: AFP/Koen van Weel] |
But while scouring a busy shipping lane for the missing containers, salvage crews found copper plates and wooden beams from a vessel with a smooth hull approximately 30 metres (98 feet long).
“It’s the oldest sea-going ship ever found in Dutch waters,” the country’s science and culture ministry said in a statement.
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| The wreckage was brought to the surface and the ship’s cargo of copper plates laid out [Credit: Cultural Heritage Agency, Netherlands] |
“An immediate archaeological survey was started and researchers determined the wood dated from 1536,” the Hague-based ministry said.
It added that the ship was built around 1540 during the reign of Charles V and had been carrying a load of copper plates dated from around the same period.
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| Copper plates found on a 16th century Dutch shipwreck [Credit: Cultural Heritage Agency, Netherlands) |
“It is especially interesting that the copper plates carry the emblem of the Fugger family,” the ministry added.
Based in Augsburg in Germany, the Fugger family amassed a massive fortune as bankers and merchants and among other things held a monopoly over copper production.
Dutch Education, Culture and Science Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven called the find “spectacular and a real enrichment of Dutch cultural heritage.”
“This is indeed a silver lining to a dark cloud. I’m curious to see what else will surface,” Van Engelshoven added.
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