Recent storms on the North Sea island of Sylt have unearthed parts of an ancient shipwreck, previously buried beneath the sand. The weathered wooden planks, believed to be remnants of a historical ship, have become visible at low tide on the beach in front of Sylt, exposed by the sea and tides.
"Unfortunately, we cannot yet say how old the wreck is or what type of ship it is," said a spokeswoman for the Archaeological State Office of Schleswig-Holstein to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, as reported by Stern. The wooden planks of the shipwreck are only visible at low tide, and in some places, they are held together with round wooden pieces, N-TV noted.
Experts plan to measure and examine the remains on the beach next week using 3D technology. The hope is to determine what type of ship it is and how old the wooden planks are. "The thick beams suggest a very large, stable, and powerful ship. Since wooden dowels were only used in shipbuilding until the end of the 18th century, it is likely to be a correspondingly old ship," said wreck expert Holger Buß, according to Bild.
The discovery comes amid ongoing coastal erosion on Sylt. Beaches on the island are gradually disappearing due to the stormy sea, which has eroded large sections of the beach, Bild reported. With each storm, not only beaches, dunes, and wooden bridges disappear due to the erosion, but sometimes old fragments of sunken ships are revealed.
Strong storms can cause shipwrecks in Schleswig-Holstein to be washed ashore but also quickly covered again by sand, according to T-Online. Parts of the current wreck have now been covered by sand again; two days ago, much larger parts of the ship were still visible, n-tv reported. Since the beginning of the year, there have been repeated severe storms on Sylt, leading to coastal changes.
"For the area of the North Frisian Wadden Sea, there are nearly 900 reports of strandings from the period from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century," said the spokeswoman for the Archaeological State Office, according to Focus Online. "Especially with strong west winds, the outer sandbanks became 'a deadly trap,'" she added, as reported by Die Zeit.
The salvage of wrecks and the rescue of shipwrecked people developed into a separate economic sector in the region due to the frequency of strandings, n-tv reported. The North Frisian Wadden Sea has a long history of shipwrecks, and this latest discovery adds to the rich maritime heritage of the area.
Previous discoveries in the region include a shipwreck from around 1690, found at Hörnumer Odde in 2016. In 2017, a wreck was found at the outer sandbank Japsand, west of Hallig Hooge, according to Stern. More recently, in 2021, the wreck of the Ulpiano was found on Süderoogsand; the Ulpiano had run aground on Christmas Eve 1870.
Experts are hopeful that the newly uncovered wreck on Sylt may provide insights into the maritime history of the region.
"Now the archaeologists can determine the age of the ship with the help of dendrochronology based on the annual rings in the timber," added Buß, according to Bild. The Archaeological State Office of Schleswig-Holstein is reviewing and documenting the find. If possible, the find will also be recovered and further examined to obtain more information about the wreck, Stern noted.
"It may well be that the wreck piece belongs to the forebody of a sailing ship that stranded on the west coast in the 17th century," shared Sylt historian Günter Schroeder with Stern. Elsewhere in the North Sea, such wrecks have also been discovered, illustrating the area's treacherous maritime history.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.