In 1660, a ship carrying luxury goods sank off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel. Nearly four centuries later, few items had been recovered from the unknown wooden Dutch merchant ship.
But as the mud and sand covering the wreck receded, a few broken chests were revealed. Four years later, divers recovered these chests and brought them to the surface.
The chests contained impressive and rare items, according to researchers at the Kaap Skil Museum in the Netherlands, where they are on display. Luxurious clothing, textiles, silverware, books bound in leather and other items likely belonged to people from the higher social classes.
Among the most impressive pieces are two almost intact dresses: a silk dress and a wedding gown. Few fabrics or garments from the 17th century survive today, and it's even rarer to find them in shipwrecks because they wear out very quickly.
"When I first saw the clothes, I was very moved," said Amy de Groot, textile conservator and exhibition consultant. "Clothing is something so personal. You hold something in your hand that someone has worn. How close can you get to someone who lived in the 17th century?"
Courtesy Museum Kaap Skil
Made for a special occasion
The silver dress, unveiled in November 2022, will be displayed in an exhibit at the Kaap Skil Museum that features items recovered from the wreck of the Palmwood, as it is known.
The two dresses are made of expensive silk and were found in the same chest. The style of the silk dress is reminiscent of Western European fashions between 1620 and 1630, and the dress probably had silver or gold buttons, a stand-up collar of linen or lace, and other embellishments. Although it is now white, red and brown, researchers believe it was originally monochromatic. Despite the elaborate design and expensive fabric, the dress was probably intended for everyday wear.
For the silver wedding dress, on the other hand, scientists estimate that it was made for a special occasion. It features woven-in silver thread motifs that look like intertwined hearts, as well as silver embellishments.
"It's incredible what we have discovered here, it's one of the rarest historical finds ever" said Maarten van Bommel, a researcher and professor of conservation science at the university of Amsterdam. "There are perhaps only two such dresses in the entire world. And both are located here on Texel" he added.
The experts removed the salt from the dresses and then stored them in special display cases filled with pressurized nitrogen, which removes oxygen and thus prevents deterioration, Ewing explained.
"Thanks to this solution, we believe we can display the dress and other findings for a long period of time without damaging them," he added.
The ship was transporting belongings of a wealthy family
Knitted silk socks, a robe, a red bodice and a beauty set for a woman were found in the same chest as the dresses. Researchers were surprised to find that none of the dresses were the same size, which is why they believe the items likely belonged to a family traveling together.
The ship could have been transporting the belongings of a wealthy family to another country, said Arent Vos, an archeologist at the museum. The velvet robe, which may have been a caftan, could have come from the Ottoman Empire or Eastern Europe. Bright red color was very popular in the 17th century, according to the museum's researchers. The grooming set consists of a silk brush, the remains of a pillow, a comb and a table mirror decorated with silk velvet.
The other chests contained 32 books bound in gilded leather, one of which had the coat of arms of the Scottish-English Stuart royal family. According to experts, the bindings of books from England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland date back to the 16th and 17th centuries.
Catastrophic storms had sunk 500 to 1,000 ships
Also recovered from the wreckage was a broken silver goblet similar in style to those made in Nuremberg in the late 16th century. On the lid of the cup is depicted the god Ares. The divers also unearthed a navigational instrument used by Dutch ships that bears the initials of its maker, H.I., and the date 1626.
Along the east coast of Texel lie hundreds of shipwrecks. Destructive storms had sunk 500 to 1,000 ships before trade routes stopped using Texel's shipping channels in the second half of the 18th century. Since the 1970s, about 40 ships have been identified, but most have yielded few finds.
Many of the ships disintegrated over time - but wrecks that were immediately covered by mud and sediment showed a slower rate of decay. Divers first discovered the Palmwood wreck in 2010 at Burgzand, in the Wadden Sea east of Texel.
High-quality hardwood logs were found on the top layer of the wreck, which probably belonged to the deck - hence the name given to the ship by researchers, who were unable to determine its identity.
"The area around Texel is full of wrecks, and we expect divers to be constantly on the lookout," Ewing said. "These wrecks, mostly Dutch merchant ships from the 17th and 18th centuries, are priceless treasures that reveal history and heritage to us. We believe more wrecks will be discovered in the next year."
