Spectacular underwater archaeological discovery: 15th-century Baltic king's 'floating home' discovered

Photo: Profimedia

The last time a ship named "Gribshunden" sailed the seas in 1495, it was 35 meters long and designed as a warship. A special Mediterranean shipbuilding technique was adopted for its construction, which involved joining the planks at the edge of the hull to the edges of the wooden frame.

Archaeologist from Lund University in Sweden, Brendan Foley, said that this ship represents a breakthrough in shipbuilding technology and was designed exclusively for combat. He adds that research has shown it was armed with about 90 smaller cannons, as well as a large crew of armored soldiers who fired pistols and crossbows from the upper deck of the ship and from the stern.

It is recorded that King Hans of Denmark frequently traveled through Gribshunden from the 1480s and was surrounded by a large fleet on those occasions. During this period, he ruled Denmark and Norway while trying to win Sweden over to rejoin the Nordic Union. However, while negotiations were taking place in Kalmar in 1495, the ship mysteriously sank – allegedly after a fire broke out. The king and his entourage were ashore at the time, but according to some estimates, around 150 people who were on board at the time died.

Because underwater surveys revealed only 14 gun mounts near the stern, Foley and his colleagues assume that most of the weapons were salvaged shortly after it sank. An interesting fact is that they did not find any traces of fire, which indicates that it sank quickly. When it came to the "lighter" armament, it was found that the guns of the larger ship were mounted on wooden elements that fired projectiles the size of golf balls. While guns were much simpler, and with balls fired by touching the match on the top.

Foldi and his team investigated the wreck during August and September, and on that occasion he also took a three-dimensional image so that experts could later make a digital reconstruction. One of the reasons for such an undertaking is the fact that the lost ships on which Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama sailed were very similar, which in the future would provide scientists with a unique opportunity to learn more about shipbuilding from that period.

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