Divers have made a mysterious discovery of a 400-year-old ship sitting at the bottom of the ocean.
The ship, which belonged to the Dutch empire that spanned five continents, is in such good nick that no-one is completely sure how exactly it came to be at the bottom of the ocean.
It’s a type of ship called a fluyt, and it was the backbone of an empire built on trade that saw the Dutch become a world superpower.
The fluyt was so integral because it could carry loads of cargo around the world with minimal crew.
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Credit: Pen News
However, despite being widespread back in the olden days, there are very few left now, even ones that have been wrecked at the bottom of the sea.
That’s why this one is so important, and so bizarre.
So, the mystery is that it’s in near-perfect nick, even after 400 years down in the Baltic Sea.
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Jouni Polkko, from Badewanne – the diving team that found the vessel – explained: “There are no hints for that [how it sank].
“The hull is intact. It’s in the middle of the sea, so it didn’t run aground.”
Credit: Pen News
“Maybe it capsized in a storm, or the pumps were stuck and the ship got too much water in because of a leak.
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“Or maybe the rigging was frozen and made the ship unstable. But we really don’t know.”
Fascinating stuff, right?
The condition of the ship is so good that there is only a small bit of damage, and even that is thought to have been caused by trawler netting over the years.
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That means that the ship was in fantastic condition when it went down.
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Credit: Pen News
The hold of the ship is full as well, though the Finnish diving team haven’t been able to establish what is in there because there’s too much silt covering the craft.
Juha Flinkman, also of the diving team, said that the discovery was a ‘great surprise’.
He added: “This fluyt family of ships were fundamental in the rise of the Dutch Republic into the economic superpower it was.
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“In their time, they were very efficient vessels.
“And one has to remember that it was this type of ship that practically all Dutch explorers used – like Willem Barents in the Arctic, and those who went to Australia and Asia.”
The conditions around the Gulf of Finland are also thought to have played a role in preserving the ship.
Credit: Pen News
Polkko continued: “It is only in rare places around the world, including the Baltic Sea, where wooden wrecks can survive for centuries without being destroyed.
“Due to low salinity, absolute darkness, and very low temperatures all year round, these processes are very slow in the Baltic.
“Perhaps most importantly, wood-boring organisms such as shipworm cannot live in such environments.
“Even in temperate seas, all wooden wrecks vanish in decades, unless buried in sediments.”
He added: “All of the Baltic Sea is good for preserving old shipwrecks.
“But towards the Gulf of Finland conditions just improve as the salinity decreases.
“Also, the sea is frozen in the winter, so ice cover stabilises conditions even further.”
Link nguồn : https://www.ladbible.com/news/weird-mysterious-sunken-ship-found-in-great-condition-in-the-baltic-sea-20200912
