Two centuries-old shipwrecks, long assumed to be the remains of pirate vessels, have now been definitively identified as 18th-century Danish slave ships.

Nestled in the shallow waters near Cahuita National Park on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, the wrecks of the Fridericus Quartus and Christianus Quintus rewrite a chapter in both local folklore and European maritime history. Far from legends of treasure or pirate battles, these sunken ships reveal a grim tale of transatlantic slavery and failed rebellion.

According to the journal Archaeology, new underwater excavations and material analysis provide compelling evidence linking the ships to Denmark's colonial slave trade in 1710.

The shipwrecks had long been misidentified as pirate vessels, largely due to their fragmented state and local legend. But in 2023, after years of underwater excavations led by the National Museum of Denmark, the truth emerged.

The two ships, part of the Danish West India Company, disappeared in 1710 during a failed slave transport from Ghana to the Danish West Indies—now the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix).

The big discovery came in 2015, when yellow bricks were discovered near one of the wrecks by American naval archaeologists.

These bricks, made from Danish clay and produced exclusively in Iller Strand and Egernsund – both locations near the Flensburg Fjord – were identified as Flensburg bricks, a key mark of 18th-century Danish architecture.

According to archival documents, as Fridericus Quartus prepared to leave the Gold Coast, a violent rebellion broke out. The slaves were freed from their shackles, but were brutally suppressed. The leader of the revolt was captured, his hands were cut off, and he was beheaded as punishment.

Fearing further uprisings, Christianus Quintus was ordered to escort her sister ship across the Atlantic.

Their journey, already fraught with tension, became disastrous. The ships lost their bearings and, as supplies ran dangerously low, a mutiny was on the verge. To stave off starvation, the captains decided to free hundreds of slaves, hoping to replenish dwindling food supplies. About 600 of them eventually reached the shores of Costa Rica. Not long after, the Fridericus Quartus was engulfed in flames, while the Christianus Quintus, having lost its anchor, crashed into the coastal waves and was broken apart by the waves.

Maritime archaeologists from Denmark and Costa Rica recovered oak wood, bricks, and clay pipes made in the Netherlands from the wreck. Analysis confirmed that the wood came from Schleswig-Holstein, Scania, or Denmark, and was cut between 1690 and 1695, using dendrochronological dating. The wood was charred and charred, consistent with historical records of Fridericus Quartus catching fire.

Clay pipes, common among Danish sailors but rarely used for more than five years, were also found among the wreckage. Combined with the bricks, they were crucial in confirming the origin of the ships.

"The analyses are very convincing and we have no more doubts that these are the wrecks of two Danish slave ships," said David Gregory, a maritime archaeologist and research professor at the National Museum of Denmark.

"The bricks are Danish, and the same goes for the beams, which are also charred and covered in soot from a fire. This fits perfectly with historical accounts that claim one of the ships burned down."

Although Denmark’s participation in the transatlantic slave trade was smaller than that of Britain or Portugal, it was by no means insignificant. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Danish West India Company transported over 120,000 enslaved Africans to the Caribbean and Europe. The ships were destined for the Danish colony of St. Thomas, central to the trade. These two ships – now lying silent on the seabed – are grim reminders of that dark legacy.

The project was carried out under the Njord, National Commission of the National Museum of Denmark's global maritime research initiative. It involved collaboration with the Viking Ship Museum, the University of Southern Denmark, the National Museum of Costa Rica and the NGO Centro Comunitario de Buceo Embajadores y Embajadoras del Mar. The rediscovery of the wreck holds profound significance not only for Danish history, but also for the local communities in Cahuita, who have lived near these wrecks without knowing their origins.

"It's been a long process and I've come very close to handing it over along the way," said Andreas Kallmeyer Bloch, a maritime archaeologist and museum curator at the National Museum of Denmark, who co-led the excavation.

“But this is definitely the craziest archaeological dig I’ve been involved in so far. Not only because it has so much significance for the local population, but also because it’s one of the most dramatic shipwrecks in Danish history, and now we know exactly where it happened.”

 

(AA/BalkanWeb)