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

00:05cargo ship that quote, sank almost standing.

00:12In this region, wood quickly rots away under water, and few shipwrecks of this age have

00:17ever been found, but maritime archaeologists think the wreck survived beneath the waves

00:23because it was quickly engulfed and protected by a layer of fine mud carried air by the

00:27river Trave. This layer of river mud over the wreck may have also prevented it from being

00:32colonized by Teredo Nivalis, a type of saltwater clam called shipworm, that rapidly eats submerged

00:39wood. The mollusk quickly destroys wooden wrecks in the western Baltic region, but it doesn't

00:45live in the colder waters of the eastern Baltic. As a result, centuries-old wooden wrecks like

00:50the one in the Trave are almost never found in the west. The ship, a rare discovery, is

00:56from the Hanseatic period, when northern European trade guilds dominated the Baltic and North

01:01Seas from the 13th to 17th centuries. Historical research may have pinpointed the date of the

01:07shipwreck to December 1680. About 150 wooden barrels found almost intact on or near the wreck

01:14indicate that the ship was carrying a cargo of quicklime when it sank in the late 17th century.

01:21Arctic lime is made by burning limestone and is a crucial ingredient for the mortar used

01:26in stonework. Manfred Schneider told Live Science there are still about 70 barrels in their original

01:32location on the ship, and another 80 barrels in the immediate vicinity, the ship therefore

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

01:43a chance to fully investigate the hull, and its construction, and perhaps identify its origin. Schneider

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

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

02:00under everyday objects from the 17th century.

02:03I'll see you next time.

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