1The F32.8 wreck was discovered in 2014 by staff of the Maritime Office in Gdynia. It lies at a depth of 4.5 m in the Bay of Puck, approximately 850 m to the north of the Rewa headland (fig. 1). Maritime Museum archaeologists conducted the first identification of the site in 2015, and detailed cataloguing works were performed in 2017.
Fig. 1: Location of the wreck F32.8
(drawing K. Treder)
2The archaeological research work on the wreck was conducted as part of the project entitled “Virtual Open-Air Museum of Wrecks in the Gulf of Gdańsk. Documentation and cataloguing of underwater archaeological heritage”.
3No artefacts were recovered from the F32.8 wreck and its minimal immersion in the sea bottom and fragmentary preservation of its structure may indicate that it has shifted from its original position. The wreck still lies under water and its recording was conducted with the use of photogrammetry to obtain a 3D model of the remains (fig. 2), and a multibeam echosounder (Bednarz 2017).
Fig. 2: 3D model of the wreck F32.8
(K. Treder, T. Bednarz)
4Measurements made with the multibeam echosounder were also applied for accurate positioning of the F32.8 underwater site and its 3D model. After archaeological work on the wreck, staff of the Maritime Measurement Department of the Maritime Office in Gdynia made measurements and site imaging with the use of a Sonic 2024 multibeam echosounder with a R330 GNSS receiver and HydrINS III flow meter. This equipment was installed on the hydrographical vessel Hydrograf 10 enabling measurements of geographical position to be made at sea with an accuracy range of 2 cm. Accurate positioning of nine characteristic elements of the wreck with the use of an echosounder, identified and indicated on a 3D model, made it possible to determine the real geographical position and orientation to the north of the F32.8 site’s 3D model (fig. 3). This data can be used in the GIS software and, due to the information contained in the software, it is possible to conduct precise measurements as well as create cross sections and projections of the site.
Fig. 3: Geographic positioning of wreck F32.8 indicated on multibeam echosounder image (left) and digital elevation model (right)
(GUM, K. Treder, T. Bednarz)
5The wreck consists of a fragment of the vessel’s port side from the sternpost extremity with a characteristic double clinker and flush-laid planking. The site measures 9.5 m in length and 2.8 m in width (fig. 3).
6The identified structure of the wreck is comprised of (fig. 4):
- twelve oak strakes of the inner clinker planking, 3-3.5 cm thick and 18-22 cm wide;
- levelling pine planks, triangular in cross section, used to fill the space between the clinker and the flush-laid planking, max. 3 cm thick and up to 18 cm wide;
- eight pine strakes of the outer flush-laid planking, 3 cm thick and 21-26 cm wide;
- oak frames, 10 cm thick and 10-14 cm wide, located at 24-72 cm intervals. There are a total of 13 frames on the wreck and two frames were identified outside the structure. A few frames have futtocks fastened to them;
- pine treenails of three different diameters are used for joining clinker planks (diam. 1.5 cm), for joining oak and pine planking (2 cm), and for fastening the planking to frames (3 cm);
- a few rectangular oak and pine inserts (covers) were also identified. These are wood fills placed under frames, additional reinforcement and probably also repair of the hull;
- traces of iron nails were also detected in several places.
Fig. 4: Theoretical reconstruction of hull construction stages of the vessel F32.8
Clinker planking (top); carvel planking applied to the construction (middle); hull of the vessel inserted into the 3D model cross section (bottom).
(drawing K. Treder, T. Bednarz)
7A total of 13 wood samples were obtained from structural elements of the wreck for dendrochronological analysis. Three samples were extracted from pine planking and the remaining ten from oak structural elements of the vessel. None of the samples had a sapwood layer. Thanks to the assistance of Dr Aoife Daly of the University of Copenhagen, absolute dating was achieved for seven oak samples extracted from frames and clinker planks based on the chronology of Norwegian ships. It was determined that the vessel was built after 1789 from wood which most probably came from the territory of Norway. This fact implies that it is unlikely that the vessel was built in the southern Baltic Sea since wood was not imported from Norwegian territory to the Bay of Gdańsk.
8Additionally, carbon-14 analysis was conducted on a wood sample collected from the wreck. As a result, it was determined that the most probable period of the vessel’s construction ranges from the second half of the 17th to the end of 18th century (Krąpiec 2017).
9Thus far, three other double-planked wrecks have been discovered and researched on the Polish shore of the Baltic Sea, including two from the Bay of Gdańsk.
10Two wrecks of wooden sailing vessels with characteristic double planking, named W-34 and W-36 respectively, were discovered in the Bay of Gdańsk area, near Redłowo and Orłowo areas in Gdynia.
11The W-36 wreck constitutes the remains of a small sailing vessel discovered in 2001, approximately 250 m from the shore in Gdynia-Orłowo area at a depth of 2.7 m. Structural fragments of 8.8 m in length (stern section of the vessel) and characteristic double planking of the hull have been preserved. The vessel’s inner planking constructed from oak wood based on a traditional clinker technique is fastened to the keel, which has a T-shaped cross section. Levelling pine planks and outer flush-laid pine planking were fastened to the inner planking. The vessel was built after 1596 from wood coming from the area of the Vistula Lagoon. Bricks, which constituted the ship’s cargo, as well as pieces of ceramics and clay pipes, were lying on the wreck (Ossowski 2006).
12In 1999, the museum’s research team conducted archaeological research on the W-34 wreck. It lay at a depth of approximately 1.5 m, 150 m from the shore near the Gdynia-Redłowo area, measured 13 × 4 m, and was covered with rocks. A small number of artefacts, fragments of clay pipes and ceramics, as well as a few buttons were recovered from the wreck. In 2011, elements of the W-34 wreck were washed ashore near Redłowo. Thus it was possible to better analyse the structure of the wreck, which was identified as a double-planked vessel built with the use of different techniques. The wood used for construction of the ship came from the area of Gdańsk Pomerania. The youngest preserved tree rings in the analysed samples date back to the 1680s and 1690s, thus indicating that the vessel was built most likely in the first decade of the 18th century. The outer flush-laid planking was built later than the internal clinker planks (Bednarz 2015; Grabowski 2018).
13Another example of a double-planked vessel discovered on the Polish Baltic shore is the F10.Y.1 wreck washed ashore in 2002, approximately 2 km to the east of Dębki. The wreck constitutes the remains of the bow part of a hull bottom, and measures 9.2 m in length and 3.5 m in beam. Dendrochronological analysis indicated that the vessel was most probably built in the 1660s from wood grown in the area of Hamburg and that both layers of its planking were built at the same time (Ossowski 2006).
14Other double-planked wrecks have been discovered in the Baltic Sea outside Polish territorial waters.
15The Massilin wreck from Estonia discovered in 1987 constitutes the remains of a single-masted ship dating to the middle of the 16th century that was used in local navigation. Its double planking was built at the same time (Mass 1994; Ossowski 2006).
16In 1996 the remains of double-planked (clinker/carvel) were was discovered in Gellen, near Stralsund, and named Hiddensee 12. The vessel was built after 1804 with timber from the Finland area (Daly, Belasus 2016).
17The FPL 77 wreck was discovered in 2009 on the beach of the Fischland-Darss-Zingst Peninsula. The vessel was built around 1590 from wood of the Oresund area for the clinker planking and of the Lübeck area for the outer carvel planking (Auer 2010).
18The Finnish schooner Pettu built in 1865 sank in 1893 off the coast of Denmark. Here, only the bottom part of the hull was clinker built, and a second planking was applied at a later time (Auer, Ditta 2016).
19Finally, in 1981 the Nors A wreck was discovered to the north of Klitmøller, Denmark. It is part of a ship with a double clinker/flush-laid planking. The remains were identified as those of a sandskude (sand punt), used for the transportation of grain and wood between Denmark and Norway. Vessels of this type were used in that area between the 17th and 19th centuries (Gothche 1985; Ossowski 2006).
20As can be seen, double-planked vessels are quite rare but they differ quite markedly from one another. According to the researchers, some of them were originally built with double planking while the rest represent vessels that, after being used as clinker-planked ships, had outer carvel planking added in order to reinforce and seal the structure. The chronology of the above sites is also interesting. The oldest ones date back to the middle of the 16th century while the youngest date to the 19th century. Most of them constitute the remains of relatively small vessels, between 10 and 20 m in length, used in local navigation. The exception is the 14th century wreck from Gellen measuring approximately 28 m. As previously mentioned, there were two construction phases identified in the case of this vessel. Another case is the 19th century Pettu wreck, which is a remnant of a “rural” shooner with a double clinker and carvel planking.
21In conclusion, it should be noted that the presence in the Bay of Puck of a vessel built in Norway indicates that it was suitable for longer Baltic navigation. Presumably, the length of the ship’s hull was about 15-18 m. This unit could also have been used for some time in local transport in the Gulf of Gdańsk.
22Its double planking reinforced the structure and enabled safe operation on sandy and rocky shores as well as in provisional harbours at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries in the Gulf of Gdańsk and other waters.
23At the current stage of research, as the pine carvel planking is not dated, it is difficult to determine whether the pine carvel planking was built at the same time as the oak clinker planking or later during repair or rebuilding.
24The irregular placement of treenails fastening the outer planking and, in a few places, large treenails piercing the planking outside the frames indicate that the cover was added later in relation to the internal. However, this is not definitively confirmed. The possibility that the outer carvel cover was added in the area of the Gulf of Gdańsk where the vessel was still in use should also not be excluded.
25Fragmentary preservation does not allow for full and precise interpretation of the site, however, it contributes to advancing knowledge on characteristic double-planked vessels in the Baltic Sea and the eastern part of the North Sea. The wreck is still located underwater and its excavation in the near future seems necessary, along with precise analysis of its structural elements in the course of onshore recording work.
26In the 19th century, clinker-built vessels constructed in Gdańsk Pomerania were commonly used in the area of the Bay of Gdańsk. The F53.31 Rock wreck discovered in 2013 is an example of this historic fact. Built after 1831, the ship sank with a cargo of granite stone near the Gdynia-Orłowo area. It is most probable that she was one of the “Rewa szkut” (punt) type of small vessels between 12 and 18 m in length with various structures used mainly for the transport of construction materials and other local products between the ports of the Bay of Gdańsk (Bednarz, Różycki 2017). The vessel whose wreck is designated F32.8 could have been used in the same way in the Bay of Gdańsk.