In the coming weeks, underwater archaeologists will be investigating a shipwreck that has been lying off the coast of Texel for centuries. This may be the VOC ship De Rob, which, with Admiral Cornelis Houtebeen Jol at the helm, sank during a storm in 1640. The results of the study will be announced in early July.
It sounds like an exciting story. Looking for the origins of a ship that has been at the bottom for centuries. The main question that underwater archaeologist Thijs Coenen has: are we indeed dealing with a VOC ship off the Texel coast?
An earlier diving investigation found, among other things, a bronze cannon with the year 1638 on it. Due to the dating of the cannon, the VOC ship Rob was quickly suspected. That is the ship of Admiral Cornelis Houtebeen Jol, which sank during a storm in 1640.
‘In terms of size, it could be possible’
Thijs Coenen is an underwater archaeologist at the Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE). He will be conducting research together with colleagues and students in the coming period. “Silver and gold coins, including Spanish ones, were also found earlier.
De Rob fought in the Battle of Duins against the Spanish in 1639. And also in terms of size it could be the Rob, but it has always remained a matter of conjecture. We don’t know for sure.”
There has been no further research in all these years. “There was no capacity for this before. The wreck has been covered with sandbags to ensure it can be preserved for the future,” says Coenen.
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But in the years that followed, the seabed deepened further, causing new pieces of wreckage to be washed free. That is to the detriment of the wreck. “So now is the time to investigate carefully whether it is Rob,” he said this morning on NH Radio.
The wreck is one of sixteen shipwrecks in the archaeological national monument Burgzand Noord near Texel in the Wadden Sea. In 1988, a shipwreck became the first protected national monument underwater. When it became clear that there were several shipwrecks in this area, the size of this monument was expanded in 2013 to an area of 1,500 by 1,000 meters.
Puzzle pieces
Project leader Coenen is looking forward to the coming weeks. “It’s still great fun. It’s a kind of puzzle that you try to solve. One of which three-quarters of the pieces are still missing and many other pieces are scattered or missing. We are trying to bring out as much as possible with a whole team, so that we can hopefully get answers to the questions.”
The research off the coast of Texel will take six weeks. On July 7, Coenen will give a presentation about the first results of the research.
