Page 29 - Kennemerland VOC ship, 1664 - Published Reports

W.A. FORSTER & K . B. HIGGS: KENNEMERLAND
foundered in deep water after the Kennemer- land struck Stoura Stack. The remainder of the ship was swept into the harbour and cast up on Bruray Island. The trail of anchors and overijsselsde steen bricks clearly marks its passage. Possibly an attempt was made to check the ship since the shanks of anchors 1 and 2 lie to the north. Clearly the concre- tions 3 and 4, the flagons 1 to 3, the cannons 3 to 6 and possibly the grindstone are from the wreck. The heavy timber baulk found at concretion 4 could mark the site of a major part of the hull. The four cannons 3 to 6 found at the end of the season to the north of the search area clearly suggest that our search for the remains of the Kennemerland is far from finished. Since the Earl of Morton salvaged only seven of the Kennemerland’s 32 cannons, 19 still remain to be accounted for. Many of these may have been recovered in later salvage operations (only one cannon has ever been found on the Liefde site), but it is possible that some others remain to be found. Since the wreckage was reputed t o have been swept up on Bruray there may be other items to the north of the present search area.
The two cannons originally found, 1 and 2, pose a slight problem since there is no tradi- tion of wreckage sinking in this area but if one considers the prevailing easterly current it seems quite reasonable that this should have happened and the greater degree of corrosion would be expected on this more exposed site. Alternatively, one might suspect these two cannons to be from an older wreck.
Future plans
A joint expedition of the Aston and Man- Chester University Sub-Aqua Clubs is planned for 1973. Lord Elgin has kindly offered to
References
act as patron. The objects will be to complete the survey described here and to make a partial excavation of the site. Athough a number of students of archaeology will be taking part in the expedition and we will once again have the back-up support of Tom Henderson at Zetland’s County Museum it is considered essential that we should have a trained archaeologist familiar with work on underwater sites to guide and advise us on the excavation.
Acknowledgements
The expedition was only made possible by the generous financial support of the University of Aston, The Guild of Students, The Athletics Union and The Guild of Convocation. We are also particularly indebted to Zetland County Council who hold a seabed lease on the site and gave us permission to dive there; to Tom Henderson of The Zetland County Museum for identifyingandconserving,ourfinds;toMrM. A. Reed and Mrs Rosa Jane French for transcribing the court proceedings on the salvaging of the Kennernerland; to Miss M. J. van den Berg of the Algemeen Rijksarchief for searching the archives of the Dutch East India Company for references to the Kennemerland; to the British Museum’s Department of Coins and Medals for information on contemporary currency values; to Littlemore Scientific Engineering Co. Ltd. for the loan of an underwater metal detector; to Dr G. L. Rogers for his kind donation; to the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association for information on the use of mercury; to MUSAC for the loan of personnel and equipment; to Mr L. J. Leicester of the Marine Division of the DTI for legal advice; to Alan Bax and Jim Gill of SNAP for advice and encouragement; to the skippers and crews of Swiftwin,g and Snowdrop for frequent lifts to Lerwick; to the Skerry folk for making us feel so much at home; and to all those firms who kindly helped us by donating food supplies for use on the expedition.
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