While dredging the lake bottom at a quarry in Kent, workers made a rare discovery of a wooden ship dating back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I.
Located over 300 meters off the coast of Kent, the discovery caused confusion among the mining team from construction company CEMEX UK, leading them to immediately notify the authorities. Recognizing the significance of the find, Kent County Council reached out to archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology and applied for urgent funding from Historic England’s Historic Monuments and Architects Commission to carry out the salvage operation and research. This was reported by the BBC on January 1.
More than 100 wooden slats from the hull have since been recovered, and analysis shows that they are made of English oak and date back to approximately 1558 to 1580, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
This discovery places it in a transitional period in Nordic shipbuilding history, when ships moved from the traditional clinker construction used in Viking ships to frame-prefabricated designs. With this new technique, the inner frame was assembled first, and then flat planks were added to create the outer shell. This method was also utilized in the construction of the British Navy battleship Mary Rose, built between 1509 and 1511, as well as ships operating along the Atlantic coast during the New World period.
“Finding a well-preserved late 16th-century ship in the lake bed sediments of a quarry is an unexpected discovery. The ship provides valuable information about a period for which we have limited evidence of shipbuilding, but it represents a major turning point in the history of shipbuilding and seafaring,” stated marine archaeologist Andrea Hamel at Wessex Archaeology.
Although the ship was found in a quarry, experts believe that the site was once on the coast and that the ship either ran aground on a rocky outcropping or was deliberately left there at the end of its life. The discovery presents a unique opportunity to gain insight into the evolution of the coast, port, and shipping activities in Kent.
The archaeological team from Wessex Archaeology used laser scanning and digital photography to create an image of the ship. Upon completion of their research, the wooden slats will be returned to the bottom of the lake where they were discovered to allow the silt to continue to preserve the rest.
