The ‘Bruges Boat’ Reviewed

ABSTRACT

Boat timbers, known as the ‘Bruges boat’ were discovered in 1899 whilst digging a canal close to Bruges, Belgium. Despite the small number of recovered pieces, these were useful, and it was possible to make a hypothetical reconstruction of part of a vessel with estimated dimensions. It has become clear, however, that this find is not a coherent shipwreck but the remains of one vessel and at least one part of a second, which were used secondarily to make a revetted jetty or abutment on the bank of a tidal channel that was still active at the time.

RESUMEN

En 1899, durante el dragado de un canal cerca de Brujas, Bélgica, se descubrieron maderas de un bote conocido como ‘Bote de Brujas’. Pese al pequeño número de piezas recuperadas, éstas fueron útiles, y fue posible plantear una reconstrucción hipotética de una parte de una embarcación con sus dimensiones estimadas. No obstante, en la actualidad, ha quedado claro que este hallazgo no es un naufragio coherente, sino que consiste en los restos de una embarcación y los restos de, por lo menos, una segunda, que fueron empleados secundariamente para hacer un embarcadero revestido o un estribo en el banco de un canal mareal que aún estaba activo en aquel tiempo.

摘要

1899 年在比利时布鲁日附近挖掘运河时发现了被称为‘布鲁日船’的船材。尽管取得的残片数量不多，但它们很有用处，可利用估计尺寸对一部分船体进行假设重建。然而，很明显的是，这一发现并不是一艘连贯完整的沉船，而是一艘船的残骸加之至少是第二艘船的一部分，它们被二次利用在当时仍很忙碌的感潮水道岸边建造一个驳岸码头或桥台。

摘要

1899 年在比利時布魯日附近挖掘運河時發現了被稱為「布魯日船」的船材。盡管取得的殘片數量不多，但它們很有用處，可利用估計尺寸對一部分船體進行假設重建。然而，很明顯的是，這一發現並不是一艘連貫完整的沉船，而是一艘船的殘骸加之至少是第二艘船的一部分，它們被二次利用在當時仍很忙碌的感潮水道岸邊建造一個駁岸碼頭或橋臺。

KEYWORDS:

• Roman Period
• ship structure
• Flanders

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• periodo romano
• estructura de embarcación
• Flandes

关键词:

• 罗马时代
• 船舶结构
• 佛兰德斯

關鍵詞:

• 羅馬時代
• 船舶結構
• 佛蘭德

المُستخلص:

• 

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Jeroen Vermeersch for the translation to English and preparing the text for submission. Dr. Toby Jones, Dr. Kristof Haneca and the reviewers are thanked for their critical review and valuable comments. Prof. Wim De Clercq is thanked for his contribution to the refinement of the final radiocarbon-date and his identification of the ceramics. Yann Hollevoet (†) is thanked for the translation from French of the information on the find circumstances.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Permission Statement

This work was carried out by the request of Raakvlak, Archaeology, Monuments and Landscapes of Bruges and Hinterland, Archaeological Service of the City of Bruges.