Marine archaeologists from the Vrak museum in Sweden have been diving a wreck that they believe could be the oldest carvel-built ship from the Nordic countries ever found. The construction method was used to produce vessels strong enough both to carry cannon and withstand enemy fire.
The ship dates back to the 15th century and was found in Landfjärden at Häringe, south of Stockholm, where the Vrak (Wreck) museum is located.
“It is a large ship that would have been about 35m long and 10m wide,” says museum curator Håkan Altrock, the project leader. “The ship’s frame remains high above the seabed and the stern and rudder still stand upright.
“What is interesting is that the ship is built in the carvel style, which means that the hull shell consists of planks laid edge-to-edge instead of overlapping each other, as in the then-prevailing clinker technique.”
The ship has been designated Wreck 5, four others already having been found in Landfjärden. At first assumed to be Viking ships, for some time no one was sure what type of vessels these were, or their age.
“We dated three of the four largest wrecks a year ago to the 17th-18th centuries,” says Altrock. “We were also able to connect one of them with a written source from the 17th century.
He describes Wreck 5 as “the oldest and most interesting of the wrecks that we are investigating in Landfjärden. We have now dated it with certainty to the 1480s, but the ship may have been built as early as the 1460s and repaired in the 1480s.
“What we also know for sure is that the timber from which the ship was built was felled in Möre, which is located in the Kalmar region, or in eastern Blekinge.”
Once the Vrak archaeologists have completed their current project on the maritime environment of Häringe they hope to obtain funding to excavate Wreck 5 as a separate project.
“This ship is a very interesting link between mediaeval and modern ships and shipbuilding,” says Altrock. “It can give us a lot of new information about an important turning point in Sweden’s maritime history.
“The carvel technique enabled the construction of stronger and larger ships and is seen by many researchers as a response to the start of the use of cannon on ships in the 15th century. Having cannon on board required stable, powerful ships – and, to withstand enemy cannonballs, strong planking was needed.”
Vrak, located near the Vasa Museum at Djurgården in Stockholm, is part of the Swedish government agency Swedish Maritime & Transport History Museums (SMTM). Explore a Sketchfab digital 3D model of Wreck 5.
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