Unique Weapon Chest Reveals Secrets of 1495 Swedish Shipwreck

STOCKHOLM – Experts have just published a new report on one of the most interesting shipwrecks of the Late Middle Ages. This report details the offshore discovery Sweden which includes unique weapon chests and broken steel chains.

As it turned out, this was a military ship: the flagship of the Danish-Norwegian King John Hans, called the Griffin (also known as the Griffin-Hound or Gribshunden).

The king was not on board when the fire caused the ship to sink, but about a hundred German mercenaries were probably on their way to battle.

Relics found in the wreckage offer valuable insight into military techniques and strategy at the time, according to a team of experts working on the wreck, who came from Stockholm University and Södertörn University in Sweden.

“This ship is an important piece of the puzzle in the maritime revolution of the Early Modern Period, where the main tactics shifted from hand-to-hand combat to heavy naval artillery fire,” said maritime archaeologist Rolf Warming from Stockholm University as reported by Science Alert, Monday (29/4/2024).

One aspect of this revolution was warship design, and researchers have looked closely at woodwork from well-preserved shipwrecks, which is believed to be from the ship’s superstructure.

Archaeologists think that most of the superstructure is still there, including parts of the ship’s elevated combat platform – although not everything is still in place.

This will help ongoing efforts to try and reconstruct the ship.

Also of note is a chain guard fragment, possibly from a shirt containing up to 150,000 rings and with evidence of having been repaired over time.

Perhaps the most important discovery was a unique weapons chest containing tools and materials used to make ammunition.

This discovery provides important evidence about how armies fought in the late Middle Ages and early Modern era.

The unique weapons crates, in particular, offer insight into how ammunition was made and stored at sea.

(wbs)