The Adelaar: a Dutch East-Indiaman Wrecked in 1728 off Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Abstract

The Adelaar , a Dutch East-Indiaman outward bound from Middleburg to Batavia, was wrecked on Greian Head, Barra, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 1728. Although heavily salvaged at the time, and situated in an extremely dynamic location, the wreck demonstrates that exposed sites can retain meaningful levels of archaeological integrity, and historically valid conclusions can be drawn from them.

Discovery and Survey and of a 17th–18th Century Shipwreck near Drumbeg, NW S cotland: an initial report

“…In the context of the known maritime archaeological resource in Scotland, the wreck near Drumbeg appears to belong to an important group of Northern European wrecks in Scotland dating to between the 16th and 18th centuries, most or all of which sank while navigating the ‘North About’ route around Scotland which linked mainland Europe with the Atlantic and the world (Martin : 84). This group includes the Wrangels Palais (Bound and Sharpe, ), Lastdrager (Sténuit, ), Kennemerland (Forster and Higgs, ; Price and Muckelroy, ; Price, , Price and Muckelroy, 1977a; 1977b; 1979; Price et al ., ; Dobbs and Price, ), Adelaar (Martin, 1992; 1998; 2005), De Liefde (Bax and Martin, ) and the Fuday wreck (Prescott et al ., ). Within this group the wreck near Drumbeg is notable as it lay undisturbed during the period of intensive salvage or intrusive archaeological excavation and recovery which took place in the 1970s and 1980s, and includes significant parts of its hull.…”

The Lead Ingots from the Wreck of theZuiddorp(1712), Western Australia: a report on their provenance and manufacture

“…The Zuiddorp ingots display a range of eight different shapes, varying from the broad, great pigs of Types I, II, III, IV, and V, to the slender, elongate pieces represented by Types VI, VII and VIII (Figs 6–7) (Table 2). This considerable variation of form in an assemblage of 21 ingots is notable, since the ingot assemblages studied from other wreck‐sites are more homogeneous; those from Kennermerland , for example, are all great pigs (Willies in Price et al ., 1980: 23), while those from Hollandia, Kampen and Adelaar are all pieces (Whiting et al ., 1985: 100; Willies, 1985: 235; Martin, 2005: 201). Lastdrager , Huis te Kraaiestein , and Merestein also seem to have carried great pigs (Whiting et al ., 1985: 100–1; Turner, 1988: 50–1).…”

“…On the Adelaar site, archaeologists recorded a total of 50 lead ingots and identified four distinct types. They recovered six ingots for detailed study (Martin, 2005: 201).…”

Phønix:a preliminary report on the 19th‐century Danish steamer wrecked on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland

“…In April, sea temperature in western Iceland is usually between 4–6° C, but as benthic algae growth is at its minimum in April and May it is the ideal time for archaeological surveying. As experience and knowledge of archaeological surveying in Icelandic conditions was limited, it was decided to adopt methods that have been successful in the UK, especially Scotland (Robertson, : 14–28; Martin, : 179–210).…”