#bodekull

[ltwilliammowett]

Shipwreck of the Swedish ship Bodekull that sank in Dalarö in the Swedish archipelago outside Stockholm in 1678, one of the best preserved ship wrecks in the world

Photo by Ingemar Lundgren/Ocean Discovery/VRAK - Museum of Wrecks

[ltwilliammowett]

3D Model of the Dalarö Wreck, 2020 (c) Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museum 

Almost exactly a year ago I posted about the mysterious Dalarö wreck near the Swedish coast.  At that time, however, it was not yet clear if she was the suspected swedish warship Bodekull or not. This has now been confirmed by studying the admiralty documents, where she is described as a strussar type of ship (a kind of small frigate). And she sank in 1678 while serving as a troop transport.

A strussar (x)

[ltwilliammowett]

The unknown Dalarö wreck

I have found another very interesting wreck again, the so-called Dalarö wreck. The ship itself is one of the best preserved wrecks of the 17th century. It lies in a depth of 30m in the Stockholm archipelago in the baltic sea and was found in 2003. Unfortunately the water there is very cloudy and green so there are barely good and clear pictures. On and around the wreck there are many objects - ceramics, glass bottles, tools, weapons, parts of the rigging, baskets and boxes.  What kind of ship was she and where did she come from?

It is a rather small ship, about 20 metres long but with a continuous hull, intact deck and two masts still standing, with a hold and six gun ports. Two guns were found on board; one is still in the carriage on the afterdeck, and one broke into the fore ship. Several hand weapons were found: two rapier handles, a musket and two pistols, one of which has a flintlock and was probably made in Holland in the 1660s.

This led to the conclusion that it might have been a Dutch civil ship that was also equipped with weapons, as was customary at that time. The galleon figure in the shape of a lion could speak for both Sweden and Holland. But then it would probably have been a royal ship because the lion was only carried under special conditions.

After an analysis of the wood it was concluded that it came from the north of England. A British lady, perhaps?

Another discovery on the wreck were glass vessels of a certain type known as Bellarmin or Bartmann jugs. A large number of such jugs were produced in the German town of Frechen in the 17th century. They are comparable to the return bottles of later periods and were used to transport all kinds of liquids, such as wine, oil and chemicals. The jugs are decorated with a bearded face at the neck of the bottle. In German "Bartmann" means "bearded man".

Archaeologists have found 15 Bellarmin in the cabin. They were probably used for the officers' wine. Looking down into the hold, divers could make out many more bell mines besides coal. Since the hold was not excavated, it was not possible to get more precise knowledge about its contents. It is possible that the ship was carrying valuable liquid cargo from the continent when it sank. A merchant ship after all ?

For a long time it was simply not clear what she is and where she really comes from. It was not until 2017 that Niklas Eriksson, a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Maritime Studies and the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, succeeded. In the preserved protocols and letters of the Swedish admiralty, which are kept in the military archives, a possible answer can be found. In 1659 Karl X Gustav of Sweden ordered to use a number of small ships to transport horses and soldiers in his war against Denmark. After the unexpected death of the king, the campaign against Denmark was abandoned and the unfinished ships ordered before his death were rebuilt in various ways.

One of them was the Bodekull, which was built between 1659 and 1661 under the supervision of the newly recruited English shipbuilder Thomas Day. As the design was changed during the construction, the preserved correspondence between the shipyard and the admiralty mentions several unique details, which are also visible on the wreck.

In 1675 the war with Denmark broke out again. In the autumn of 1678, the Swedish fleet sought winter quarters north of Kalmar instead of returning to Stockholm to take advantage of the earlier ice break in the southern harbour. Bodekull was sent to grind grain in a mill along the coast under the command of Olof Styff. Despite his instructions he sailed to Fagerholmen in the Stockholm archipelago. On the way back the ship hit a rock and sank. 20 barrels of water-soaked flour were sent to Stockholm. The story of Bodekulls' sinking was written down in the documents thanks to the extensive discussions within the admiralty about how bread could be made from the soaked flour. Everything points to the fact that the Bodekull is a converted Swedish transport ship. The investigations are still going on, but when the divers go down again and look at the storage room, it might be confirmed if it is really the Bodekull.