(c) COG
In the Netherlands, efforts were made in 2012 to enlarge the Ijssel River. A shipwreck was found at the river’s bottom while workers were there. It wasn’t by itself. The cog, a sort of wooden ship from the Middle Ages, was travelling with a punt and a barge.
Purposefully sunk?
But why was this fleet taking a break there specifically? The 2012 project wasn’t the first attempt to engineer the Ijssel River, as it turned out. Researchers now think that the ships were purposefully sunk 600 years ago to change the water’s flow.
It was decided to remove the cog from the water and keep the boat intact. Considering that the vessel weighed 55 tonnes, this was no simple task (50 tonnes). When the time came, maritime archaeologists successfully raised the cog in its entirety on the first try after three years of planning the recovery.
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Source: List Verse
