The Spanish fleet, which was considered invincible, was destroyed at the Battle of the Zuiderzee in 1573. First against the Sea Beggars near Marken and later definitively off the coast of Hoorn. The battle would prove to be a turning point in the battle against the Spanish. Divers are currently searching for remains of that battle. Unfortunately, after a week and a half of searching, nothing from that time has been found. “But I never give up,” says underwater archaeologist Wouter Waldus. “It has to be there.”
At the bottom of the IJ near Schellingwoude there should be remains of the ship blockade that the Water Beggars set up against the Spanish galleons of Admiral Bosse in 1573. “Last year we found indications that there may be wrecks,” says Wouter, “we know that the Beggars made a blockade there from old ships, stones from the demolished church of Schellingwoude and even gravestones.”
The remains of the blockade were searched in four places up to three meters into the bottom of the IJ, but unfortunately nothing was found. “That’s a shame,” says Wouter, “but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. It’s a soil of very soft clay, so it could well be that it’s much deeper.” Only for this moment they had to stop the search in the IJ and move it to the Markermeer near Hoorn and Enkhuizen.
Spanish galleon
A total of seven wrecks have now been found there. “We have already found and examined four. Unfortunately, not an old Spanish warship. One wreck is from the 16th century and is too small and the rest from other times. Maybe we will be lucky with the remaining three.”
The Markermeer is a cemetery of thousands of ships from different centuries. “That is wonderful for an archaeologist, but it makes a specific search for Spanish galleons extra complicated.”
The Spanish fleet was largely built at an Amsterdam shipyard. Amsterdam was also on the side of the Spanish ruler. Admiral Bosse’s flagship was the Inquisition, so named by the Sea Beggars because of the Spanish persecutions.
A heroic sailor named Jan Haring was the one who finally managed to get the flag on the admiralty ship. He was shot dead afterwards, but it meant the end of the battle: the other Spanish ships fled because they thought their admiral had surrendered. Spanish rule was over.
The Battle for the Zuiderzee was celebrated in Monnickendam last summer. On the weekend of October 14 and 15, Hoorn will host exuberant festivities. On October 11, a book about the Battle of the Zuiderzee by Wouter Waldus, among others, will be published by Noord Holland Publishers.