World’s largest medieval gear discovered near Copenhagen –

A shipwreck discovered off the coast of Copenhagen has been identified as a Cog, a medieval cargo ship of enormous size. When intact, the ship was approximately 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 20 feet high, with an estimated cargo capacity of 300 tons. It was built around 1410 and is the largest gear ever discovered.

The gear is designed to be highly seaworthy, even when fully loaded with bulky cargo. Even with a small crew, they were powerful enough to navigate the dangerous waters of the Baltic Sea. They were the draft horses of medieval northern European maritime trade.

The wreck was discovered by divers while surveying the seafloor in the Svalgate Strait between Denmark and Sweden. This was the second ship discovered in the area, hence the name pharynx 2. It is in an exceptional state of preservation, protected by a layer of sand covering the starboard side.

Dendrochronological analysis shows pharynx 2 It was built around 1410 using wood from two regions: Pomerania (now Poland) and the Netherlands. By comparing tree ring patterns to reference data, researchers were able to date the wood and determine its origin. The planks were made of Pomeranian oak, while the frame (the ribs of the ship) came from the Netherlands. This building pattern suggests that heavy plank timber was imported while the frames were cut locally on the building site, reflecting a practical approach and complex trade networks that saw large quantities of timber transported across Northern Europe.

“It tells us that the timber was exported from Pomerania to the Netherlands, and that the ship was built in the Netherlands, where the expertise to build these very large gears was found,” said marine archaeologist Otto Odum.

Archaeological work yielded many first-ever archaeological discoveries pharynx 2 destroy. A remarkable discovery are the remains of a castle at the stern of the ship. The castle is a covered platform built on the bow and stern of a medieval gear ship. The crew could take shelter there during bad weather, giving them a measure of protection that open ships in the Viking Age could not offer. Previously, they had only been known from contemporary illustrations. This is the first archaeological evidence of a gear castle discovered to date.

Another striking find is the ship’s brick galley, where the crew cooked over an open fire, the earliest example found in Danish waters.

The kitchen consisted of approximately 200 bricks and 15 tiles, and archaeologists found bronze cookware, ceramic bowls, and fish and meat remains in the same area.

“We have never before found a brick galley on a medieval ship in Danish waters. It illustrates the extraordinary comfort and organization on board. Sailors could now eat hot meals similar to those on land, rather than the dry and cold food that previously dominated life at sea,” says Otto Odum.

In the galley area, archaeologists also found some of the crew’s cutlery and pots used for cooking, as well as the remains of food such as fish and meat, and hundreds of finely chopped wooden sticks that may have been used for fishing for cod.

In addition to kitchen equipment, archaeologists have also discovered artifacts from the daily life of the crew, including the only painted wooden boards from this era found in Denmark, shoes, combs and rosary beads. They found no remains of the cargo, possibly because the holds were not covered and so their contents floated away when the ship sank.