Examination of recently discovered wreck from the 17th century

Phys dot org ^ | July 28, 2022 | Kiel University

[SunkenCiv]

While conducting a routine measurement in the Trave river, the Kiel-Holtenau Waterways and Shipping Authority (Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt/WSA) discovered a ship at a depth of eleven meters. Researchers from Kiel University spent eight months examining the puzzling construction. The result: what they had found was a nearly 400-year-old ship from the Hanseatic period with 150 barrels on board—a unique find in the western Baltic region.

What is left of the ship are wooden beams and large parts of the cargo. They are covered in mussels and must have lain there in the murky water of the Trave river for centuries. "Independent dating of the ship's timbers in three different laboratories revealed that the ship must have been constructed in the mid-17th century," said Dr. Fritz Jürgens of the Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at Kiel University... The archaeologist examined the wreck together with his team and the university's Forschungstauchzentrum (scientific diving center). Researchers from the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the University of Göttingen also dived with him to inspect the remains of the ship.

The Institute of Geosciences at Kiel University was able to identify the cargo as lime. The ship evidently transported quicklime, which was a sought-after building material at that time. "In the Middle Ages and early modern period, limestone was quarried, fired and then extinguished. This was made into mortar," said Jürgens. According to initial findings, the ship must have been on its way from Scandinavia to Lübeck, but never made it. Further investigations are needed to determine why the Hanseatic ship sank. Initial indications suggest that the ship could have run aground on a bend in the Trave river, where it was seriously damaged and therefore sank.

[GingisK]

Thanks for the update. That is a heavy load.