 TheBremen Cog atGerman Maritime Museum, 2021 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Laid down | 1380s |
| Fate | Sank while under construction, salvaged between 1962 and 1965 |
| Status | Currently amuseum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Cog |
| Tonnage | 90 to 130 tons |
| Length | 23.27 m (76.35 ft) |
| Beam | 7.62 m (25.0 ft) |
| Sail plan | Square-rigged |
| Notes | Dimensions taken from exhibition notes at theHanseatic Museum in Bergen |
TheBremen cog is a well-preserved wreck of acog dated to 1380, found in 1962 inBremen. Today, it is displayed at theGerman Maritime Museum inBremerhaven as one of the main features. Three nearly identical replicas of this cog have been built:Ubena von Bremen,Hansekogge, andRoland von Bremen.
On 8 October 1962, wooden fragments of a ship were found in theWeser River during dredging operations. They turned out to be remnants of a cog that seems to have sunk during astorm flood after drifting away from ashipyard before completion. Until then, cogs had mostly been known from medieval documents and seals; there was only one earlier find in the Noordoostpolder (the Netherlands). Based on thedendrochronological analysis of the oak timber from which the cog was built, the ship was dated to about 1380 AD.
The large parts were measured, registered, and stored in water basins in a pier shed in Bremen to prevent the wood from drying and shrinking. A further search with the aid of adiving bell ship in 1965 retrieved more than 2,000 additional parts, which also were stored. It was decided to exhibit it in the plannedGerman Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. In 1972, theKoggehalle had been completed and the parts were reassembled under constant sprinkling. Almost the complete starboard side and a third of the port side could be reconstructed. The construction then was encased in a tank to be impregnated inpolyethylene glycol for 18 years. Finally, it was cleared from the remnants and has been on display since 2000, 25 years after the opening of the museum.
The Bremen cog had one mast and wassquare-rigged, with acarvel-built bottom andclinch-built sides. The rib timber was built in after the hull had been made.[1] The cog was 24 m long, 8 m in the beam, and just over 4 m high on the sides. These measurements would have produced an estimated load capacity of 130 tons.[2] Other estimates put the cargo capacity at only 90 tons.[1]
Authority control databases: National |
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53°32′24″N8°34′38″E / 53.5399°N 8.5771°E /53.5399; 8.5771