Vergulde Draeck

Vergulde Draeck (pronounced [vɛrˈɣʏldə ˈdraːk]), also spelled Vergulde Draak and Vergulde Draek (meaning Gilt Dragon), was a 38.78-metre (127.2 ft), 260 ton jacht ('yacht') bought in 1653 by the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, commonly abbreviated to VOC). The ship was lost off the coast of Western Australia in 1656, with a minority of her crew reaching shore, and only seven subsequently reaching civilization. The wreck was the first example of a VOC ship to be discovered off the coast of Australia. Archaeological investigations were started in 1972, with further work being done in 1981 and 1983. Though there is very little assembled hull structure remaining, what has been studied suggests that there was only one skin of structural hull planking, unlike the larger Indiamen, which usually had two layers. The sacrificial external layer of pine planking (a protection from teredo worm) shows marks from the wind-powered sawmill which cut them, providing evidence of the industrialisation of ship-building in the Netherlands.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).