“It speaks of remarkable comfort and organization on board,” said Uldum. “Now sailors could receive hot meals similar to those on land, instead of the dried and cold foods that previously dominated life at sea.” Of course, there was still plenty of dried meat and cold biscuits waiting for the sailors for centuries to come, but when weather and time permitted, the crew of Svaelget 2 could at least gather around a hot meal. The galley would have been a relatively new part of shipboard sailor life in the early 1400s, and quickly became an essential part.
Cargo? Where to?
One thing usually marks the site of a shipwreck, even when everything else in the ocean has disintegrated: ballast rocks. When merchant ships were empty, they carried stones in their holds to keep the ship stable; otherwise the empty ship would be top-heavy and prone to overturning, which is usually not ideal. (Modern merchant ships use water, in special tanks, as ballast.) But Uldum and his colleagues found no ballast stones on Svaelget 2, meaning the cog ship was likely fully loaded with cargo when it sank.
But the charge is also noticeably absent. Gears were built to transport bulk goods such as bricks, grain and other basic foodstuffs, cloth, salt and lumber. Those goods are said to have been stowed amidships in an open hold, secured with ropes and chains (some of which remain on the wreck). But barrels, planks and bolts of fabric all float. When the ship sank and water washed into the hold, it is said to have carried away the cargo.
Some of it may have washed up on the coast or even more distant beaches, creating a windfall for local residents. The rest probably sank to the bottom of the sea, far from the ship and its destination.
