Years of research have raised more questions than answers about the spectacular contents of the 17th-century Dutch shipwreck found in the Netherlands, which includes some of the most important clothing discoveries ever made in Europe.
The wreck was discovered in 2009 by a local diving club on Texel, an island in the Wadden Sea about 100 kilometers north of Amsterdam, and excavated between 2014 and 2017. Since then, an international team of researchers has studied and preserved Some 1,500 artifacts found in the wreck, commonly called the “palm wood wreck” for its expensive cargo of hardwoods.
What has stunned archaeologists is the discovery on the ship of luxury clothing (unusually well preserved), such as an elegant dress embroidered with silver knots, an elaborate damask robe, a lady’s dressing table and mirror set, and a tunic. of Ottoman-style velvet dyed with cochineal, a ruby-colored pigment obtained from insects found only in America.
In addition, a collection of 32 leather-bound books dating from the 16th and 17th centuries was discovered on board. Although the pages have long since dissolved, the embossed covers reveal volumes from several countries, including France, Poland, and one bearing the crest of the British royal house of the Stuarts.
“In the 17th century, they were very expensive items and someone went to the trouble of collecting them and transporting them from A to B. But why?” wonders Alec Ewing, curator at the Kaap Skil maritime museum in nearby Oudeschild.
Based on the style of clothing and information in the books, investigators initially suspected the ship might have been part of a convoy carrying Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, from England to the Netherlands. One letter describes how in March 1642 a baggage ship belonging to the queen consort’s retinue sank, containing the wardrobes of her two ladies-in-waiting and her maids.
More answers than questions
The sinking, which would have taken place in 1642, was the leading hypothesis and working theory when the first garments from the remains of the Palmwood were exhibited at the Kaap Skil Museum in 2016. Since then, however, researchers have obtained more information from the remains of the ship, including that the Palmwood probably did not even set sail before 1645.
According to dendrochronological data, the ship’s trees were not felled before 1640, says Arent Vos, a Dutch maritime archaeologist who has done extensive work in the area, including the Palmwood wreck. Taking into account the time required to build the ship and the average life of a 17th century ship, he calculates that he sailed between 1645 and 1660, plus or minus 10 years.
But if the Palmwood wasn’t a floating royal wardrobe, what was? The variety of clothing (some of which could be decades old at the time of the sinking), as well as the international library of books (some dating back a century), silverware, and other luxury items, have led some scholars to suggest that the artifacts may have belonged to an elite family, possibly on a diplomatic trip.
But other researchers wonder if that theory squares with all the artifacts investigated so far. The Ottoman caftan, for example, would be out of place in an upper-class European woman’s wardrobe.
“We’re trying to answer these questions about who these people were, but the caftan makes it all fall apart,” says Ewing.
According to Corina Hordijk, artistic director of the Kapp Skil, another theory is that the ship was carrying a theater company when it sank. “It’s just one of the theories. Interesting, but probably not the most plausible.”
Then there is the lack of underwear. The ladies’ dresses would have required multiple layers of muslin, cotton, or wool under the silk creations, but researchers have yet to find any evidence of undergarments other than silk stockings and bodices. “It’s very strange,” says Ewing.