Shipwrecks in Shetland - the latest
Shetland has some fascinating historic wreck sites and the remains greatly enhance our knowledge and understanding of international trade routes, manufacturing and personal tastes.
We were delighted to have maritime archaeologists, Colin and Paula Martin back with us last week to record finds from three East India ships, one Swedish, and two from the Netherlands. Of the three wrecks, only Drottningen af Swerige (The Queen of Sweden), avoided loss of life, which wrecked off the Knab in January 1745. Only three crew of 200 survived the wrecking of the Kennemerland and only one man of the 300 crew made it ashore alive from de Liefde, both of which wrecked off Skerries, in 1664 and 1711, respectively.
Colin has recorded these beautiful hand-painted porcelain Chinese tea bowls (from The Queen of Sweden), as well as fragments of bellarmine jars from the Kennemerland. Previously they reviewed similar finds from de Liefde (Love). Their recording includes Colin’s detailed drawings of faces found on the necks of the bellarmine jars, which held substances from alcohol to mercury. They’re truly remarkable artefacts.
For more information on Colin and Paula’s research read their blog posts here
