SPRING BOARDS
A
modern shipping accident off the coast of the Netherlands led to the discovery
of a sixteenth-century shipwreck that may provide insight into a transitional
period in the history of global exploration and commerce. Salvagers attempting
to retrieve 300 shipping containers that had fallen into the North Sea from the
merchant ship MSC Zoe during a storm in January 2019 also recovered three wooden
planks and 12 timbers from a much older ship’s frame, as well as a cargo of copper
plates. Upon examination, the plates were found to bear the crest of the German
Fugger family, one of early modern Europe’s wealthiest banking families. Analysis of
the wood has established that the ship was built in the late 1530 s. The vessel sank
sometime before 1545.
Underwater archaeolo-
gist Martijn Manders of
Leiden University and the
Cultural Heritage Agency
of the Netherlands says
the wreck represents a
pivotal moment in Dutch
shipbuilding. It is a very
early example of the carvel
method of building hulls,
in which planks are laid
flush from edge to edge.
This is distinct from the traditional lapstrake method, in which hull planks overlap.
According to Manders, this development went on to allow for construction of sturdier
three-masted boats with much larger crew and cargo capacities. “It’s a very important
ship because 100 years later we’re in the middle of the Dutch Golden Age,” he says,
“when three-masted vessels carrying hundreds of people are traveling regularly to the
East Indies and the West Indies and circumnavigating the globe.”
— marLey Brownarchaeology.org 23Wooden ship timbersCopper plate with Fugger family stampA new account of the
famous site and story
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Masada will be the
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Cloth $29.95