KENT, ENGLAND—The Guardian reports that archaeologists from Historic England and the Netherland’s Cultural Heritage Agency have returned to the site of the 18th-century Dutch East India ship Rooswijk. The ship sank off the coast of Kent in January 1740, and all 250 aboard perished. So far this season, the team has recovered artifacts that include a sailor's shoe, glass bottles, an onion jar, and Mexican silver dollars, as well as pieces of eight. The first scientifically excavated Dutch East India ship, Rooswijk was excavated in 2005, and a quantity of silver was discovered and returned to the Netherlands. But much about the wreck remains mysterious. “We have many questions,” said Dutch maritime expert Martijn Martens. “We do not even know what this ship really looked like.” To read more about nautical archaeology, go to “History’s 10 Greatest Wrecks.”
