Found: Medieval Cargo Ship – Largest Vessel of Its Kind Ever

(smithsonianmag.com)

94 points | by bookofjoe 6 hours ago ago

21 comments

  • mikkupikku 2 hours ago

    > Its planks are made of Pomeranian oak from modern-day Poland, and the wood of its frame came from the Netherlands.

    I'm surprised the raw materials came together over such a distance. That transporting lumber was economical back then is remarkable.

    • Duanemclemore 2 hours ago

      Check out the History of the Germans season on the Hanseatic League [0]. The bulk goods trade was in the Baltic / Northern Europe was actually huge. The Hansa themselves traded all the way from London to Novgorod. Anyway, it's an absolutely fascinating subject and period.

      [0] https://historyofthegermans.com/hanseatic-league/

    • twic 2 hours ago

      Well, as the article says:

      > Per the statement, the large vessels were made to sail north from the Netherlands, around Denmark and toward the Baltic Sea. [...] Uldum adds that shipbuilders made the cogs as large as possible to transport bulky cargo, like timber

      Once you've built one cog, you've got the ideal tool to fetch Polish timber to build more!

    • benj111 44 minutes ago

      Is it possible the ship was rebuilt?

      • tokai 41 minutes ago

        No the wood is also dated.

    • IncreasePosts an hour ago

      You might be interested in tin transport during the bronze age then - You'll find tin mined in Cornwall in ships that sank off the coast of Turkey 3500 years ago.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_sources_and_trade_during_a...

  • asymmetric 27 minutes ago

    > On its stern, researchers were shocked to find extensive remains of a castle, a kind of covered deck where the crew would have sought shelter. Records show that castles were distinctive features of medieval cogs, but no physical evidence of them had previously been identified.

    I suppose this explains why the thing that exists on more modern ships is called a “forecastle”.

    PS go check the pronunciation for that word as it’s quite surprising.

  • mmooss 4 hours ago

    Is there a paper somewhere?

    Statement from the Viking Museum:

    https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/about-us/news-and-press...

    Documentary referenced in the statement (I think):

    https://www.dr.dk/drtv/episode/gaaden-i-dybet_-fra-ukendt-ha...

    • tokai an hour ago

      No. It's going to take some time, and theres a good change it'll come as a danish language monography or one or more phd thesis'.

  • alberth 4 hours ago

    Who would have guessed the Smithsonian of all organizations would have so many video popup ads.

    Isn’t the greatest experience on mobile when so little of the content can be seen due to popups.

    • quinncom 2 hours ago

      Smithsonian Mag used to be the Institution’s brain‑child, now it’s just a click‑bait lifestyle tabloid full of celebs. The magazine’s editorial directives have diverged from the institutions mission. They care more about pageviews and ads than research.

    • dyauspitr 3 hours ago

      I can appreciate their troubles. How is someone supposed to pay for all the overhead that goes into research and writing these articles without a source of income. People also seem dead against subscriptions. The only way that seems to work is appealing to the LCD and raking in stream bucks but not all media/literature, especially the valuable kind, is conducive to that model.

    • Zardoz84 3 hours ago

      Ads ? What Ads...

      I forgot that I use Firefox for Android with uBlock Origin. I don't see any ads NEVER.

      • stronglikedan 2 hours ago

        > I don't see any ads NEVER

        So you see some ads occasionally? Then why are you asking "what ads"?

  • einpoklum 2 hours ago

    This is the kind of ship they found:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cog_(ship)

    larger ships in the later middle ages were the Caravel and the Carrack, which typically had more than a single mast.

  • paulnpace 3 hours ago

    Amazingly under only 40' of water.

    • patall 2 hours ago

      The baltic has tons of wrecks. Because of its brackishness, both marine and fresh water wood decomposing organism dont survive there and thus old ships got preserved really really well. Some are in really shallow (walkable) water, especially in areas where the land is rising.

    • Someone 2 hours ago

      That may be not that amazing for a shipwreck in the Øresund. According to Wikipedia, its maximum depth is 40m (130’) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Øresund), so chances are a lot of it is less deep. There also may be sampling bias, with shipwrecks in shallower water being more likely to be found, and, if the tides flow faster in deeper water, survivorship bias.

      • bluGill an hour ago

        ships are less likely to wreck in deep water. Storms can sill overturn them (though if they are unstable getting to deep water is questionable). You mostly expect wrecks from hitting rocks on the bottom. Though in war time sinking happens in deep water.

  • dgan 4 hours ago

    Patrician II/III anyone? One of the best games of my childhood, sweet memories