Summary Record

Date 8 October 2012

Event ID 929596

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Summary Record

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/929596

The Kennermerland was an armed merchant vessel belonging to the Dutch East India Company, a relatively common class of vessel in the 17th century. After leaving the Texel in the Netherlands outward-bound to Batavia (now Jakarta) in the East Indies, she headed north to avoid the Royal Navy. She was wrecked off Out Skerries on the 20th of December 1664. Her cargo included a consignment of gold, mercury, clay pipes, tobacco-boxes and golf clubs, while the ballast was made up of lead ingots and building bricks.

The wreck’s forepart foundered in the deep water adjacent to Stoura Stack and the remaining stern portion was swept into the harbour and washed up on Bruray, before being swept back out to sea on the following tide. Only three men survived.

The remains of the Kennemerland were located in 1971 by members of the Aston University Sub Aqua Club and six seasons of excavation were conducted by Richard Price before 1987. In the 1970s the late Keith Muckelroy used the wreck as a proving ground in his pioneering work on site formation studies. Since 1988 the site has been regularly inspected under license from Historic Scotland, most recently by Wessex Archaeology in 2005. Material from the wreck has been discovered over a wide area between Stoura Stack and Trolsoma.

The majority of the finds from the excavation are held at Shetland Museum. RCAHMS holds an extensive paper archive material (including published and unpublished material) as well as a series of photographs from the 1990 dive inspection. Other archive material is with C Dobbs, R Price and C Martin.

The site was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act in 1978.

The wreckage of the Advena, lost in 1912, overlies part of this site (HU67SE 8002).

Information from RCAHMS (HDS and GFG) 8 October 2012