Abstract
While most of this volume’s contributions trace Hanseatic influences throughout the North Atlantic, this paper examines a possible counter-influence in the shape of a medieval shipwreck discovered in Bremen in 2007, the construction of which is reminiscent of the Scandinavian shipbuilding tradition. With its radially cleft planks, inlaid wool caulking and clinkerfastenings, the wreck displays a number of features that point typologically to a vernacular Scandinavian origin. However, the planks fall into two groups outside of Scandinavia: high quality wainscot planks cut in the Baltic region in the course of the fourteenth century, and a group of locally cut timber — arguably for repairs — dating from the second quarter of the fifteenth century. This period coincides with a peak of Baltic timber export, especially wainscot for shipbuilders. Hence, the wreck is discussed within the wider context of clinker-built wrecks from this period in general and wrecks built of Baltic oak in particular.
Highlights
A medieval shipwreck dubbed the ‘Beluga ship’ was discovered in 2007 in the course of the rescue excavation in the construction pit at Bremen’s Teerhof.1 The site is located on a promontory dividing River Weser from a side arm
This paper is divided into three main sections, the first being a brief summary of technical details, followed by an evaluation in which the Beluga ship is set in the context of other wrecks in north-western Europe in terms of construction and timber provenances and, in conclusion, the implications of the assumed Scandinavian origin and the local site context in the Lower Weser region are explored
In this paper the question was raised – possibly for the first time – whether there is a correlation between late medieval clinker-built vessels in the North Sea area and Baltic timber imports
Summary
A medieval shipwreck dubbed the ‘Beluga ship’ was discovered in 2007 in the course of the rescue excavation in the construction pit at Bremen’s Teerhof. The site is located on a promontory dividing River Weser from a side arm. The wreck is a traditional lapstrake construction (Fig. 2), entirely clinker-built with radially cleft oak planks with widths ranging between 20–26 cm and a mean thickness of 2.1 cm. Timber exports via Danzig (Gdańsk) peaked in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and shifted to Königsberg (Kaliningrad) and Riga in the course of the sixteenth century.35 This is very much reflected by the provenances of oak planks of fourteenth- /fifteenthcentury medieval shipwrecks found throughout the North Sea area (Fig. 4). While Skudenes on Karmøy marked the entry to Avaldsnes, Lindesnes marked the entry to the Baltic Sea. The central eastern European hinterlands were not the only sources for wildwood timber, as suggested by a slab of articulated planking of Irish oak from a late thirteenth-century clinker-galley discovered in Southwark, London, with plank lengths over 2.5 m.43. Kingston TYT98 Vestre Skars Halmstad Sørenga 3 Bryggen Roskilde Havn 1 Hundevika Hays-Symonds Wharf Southwark Sandwich Sørenga 1 Sørenga 2 Hays W-Abbots Lane Hays-W-G&S Wharf Isegran Sundekilen Kerteminde 1 Bøle Skjernøysund 3 Avaldsnes Beluga Blackfriars 3 Dokøen 2 Ny Hellesund 2 Århus Å Dokøen 4 Foldrøy G35 Dokøen 3 Skaftö Selør 4 Aber Wrac'h Vedby Hage Århus 1 Århus 4 Århus 5 Blackfriars 4 Ramslandsvåg Bankside
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