For six centuries, the waters just off one of Europe’s most visited cities have kept a stunning secret hidden. Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark Comments
An archaeological team has carried out an amazing find in the seas near Copenhagen’s shoreline. The Danish team has revealed the largest medieval European commercial vessel ever discovered, one whose scale and previously unknown structural features provide remarkable new perspectives on maritime technology and commerce during the Middle Ages.
This notable discovery occurred during seabed surveys in the Sound, the channel between Denmark and Sweden. The shipwreck was located on the floor of the Øresund while undertaking location analyses for the erection of Lynetteholm, the controversial artificial island under construction just beyond Copenhagen’s core. As if that wasn’t thrilling enough, the team from the Viking Ship Museum happened upon a singular find – the biggest “cog” ever unearthed.
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The cog was an effective kind of vessel that could be operated by a notably small crew, even when heavily laden, and was designed to perform the hazardous journey around Skagen, Denmark’s primary fishing harbor, from what is presently the Netherlands through the Sound and to the trading settlements of the Baltic. The demanding journey necessitated passage through the often-turbulent North Sea and the Skagerrak, which connects to the Kattegat and then, the Baltic Sea.
It measures roughly 100 feet in length by 30 feet in breadth and can be dated back to the early 1400s. While no freight was found, the team of archaeologists did locate a number of personal items from the crew at the site, including painted wooden bowls, footwear, combs and prayer beads.
The ship, which the team christened Svaelget 2 after the channel’s designation, would have had a carrying capacity of around 300 tonnes.
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Excavation leader Otto Uldum commented: “A ship with such a considerable cargo capability is part of an organized system where traders were aware of a demand for the items they carried. Svælget 2 is a real instance of how commerce evolved during the Middle Ages.”
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He continued: “It provides unequivocal proof that everyday goods were exchanged. Shipbuilders constructed vessels as large as they could to transport sizable cargo – salt, lumber, bricks or basic foodstuffs.
“We now know, irrefutably, that cogs could attain this size – that the vessel design could be extended to this extreme.”
The ship’s planking originated from Poland and the ribs from the Netherlands, the researchers revealed. Given that Dutch shipwrights possessed expertise in cog construction, it is probable that Polish planks were transported to a Dutch shipyard for assembly. The timber’s tree rings assigned the ship to approximately 1410.
Svælget 2 is not only the biggest cog ever located, but it is also remarkably well-preserved. As stated by the museum, even some remnants of the rigging are still undamaged. Portions of a raised deckhouse on the stern are additionally still observable – the first instance that this type of structure has been discovered intact at a cog wreck site. The ship’s deckhouse has furthermore been identified as an enhancement to prior Viking Age designs, which left the crew vulnerable to the elements at all times, Mr Uldum noted.
“It is exceptional to have so many components of the rigging present. We have never encountered this before, and it presents us with a genuine chance to articulate something entirely novel regarding how cogs were outfitted for sailing,” the team leader concluded.