Stunningly Preserved Time Capsule Ship Found

Live Science

The 400-year-old wreck of a cargo ship from the Hanseatic period of trade in the Baltic Sea, complete with the barrels of lime it was carrying for the stone-building industry, has been found in a river on the northern coast of Germany.

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00:00Maritime archaeologists in northern Germany have discovered the wreckage of a 400-year-old cargo ship that, quote,

00:06sank almost standing.

00:12In this region, wood quickly rots away underwater, and few shipwrecks of this age have ever been found.

00:19But maritime archaeologists think the wreck survived beneath the waves because it was quickly engulfed and

00:24protected by a layer of fine mud carried there by the river Trayv. This layer of river mud over the

00:30wreck may have also prevented it from being colonized by Pteridonivalis, a type of saltwater

00:36clam called shipworm, that rapidly eats submerged wood. The Mollus quickly destroys wooden wrecks in

00:42the western Baltic region, but it doesn't live in the colder waters of the eastern Baltic. As a result,

00:48centuries-old wooden wrecks like the one in the Trayv are almost never found in the west.

00:53The ship, a rare discovery, is from the Hanseatic period, when northern European trade guilds

00:59dominated the Baltic and North Seas from the 13th to 17th centuries. Historical research may have

01:06pinpointed the date of the shipwreck to December 1680. About 150 wooden barrels found almost intact

01:13on or near the wreck indicate that the ship was carrying a cargo of quicklime when it sank in the

01:18late 17th century. Quicklime is made by burning limestone and is a crucial ingredient for the

01:25mortar used in stonework. Manfred Schneider told Live Science there are still about 70 barrels in

01:31their original location on the ship, and another 80 barrels in the immediate vicinity. The ship

01:37therefore sank almost standing and did not capsize. Raising the ship from the riverbed

01:41will give archaeologists a chance to fully investigate the hull and its construction,

01:46and perhaps identify its origin. Schneider said,

01:50the savage will probably also uncover previously unknown parts of the wreck that are still hidden

01:55in the sediment, such as rooms for the ship's crew in the stern that may still hold everyday

02:00objects from the 17th century.

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