Dutch container search stumbles on shipwreck

DUTCH SEA — Dutch salvage teams looking for shipping containers that fell off a ship during a storm discovered a 16th Century shipwreck on the North Sea floor, according to the BBC.

The ancient wreck was found during a search for missing cargo that fell from the ship MSC Zoe during a January 2 storm in the North Sea, when 345 containers fell off the vessel.
According to the BBC, as salvage teams searched the Dutch North Sea, their sonar equipment discovered an unknown object on the seafloor a few miles to the north of Terschelling Island in the Wadden Sea.
The salvage teams recovered some copper cargo, three wooden planks and 12 wooden ribs from the ship's frame.
According to the BBC, experts believe the 30 meter by 7 meter ship could have been transporting as much as 5,000 kilograms of copper.
According to the country's science and culture ministry, "it's the oldest sea-going ship ever found in Dutch waters."
"An immediate archaeological survey was started and researchers determined the wood dated from 1536," the ministry said.
It also added that the ship was built around 1540 during the reign of Charles V.