Anchors Rooswijk, Goodwin sands

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The Rooswijk took shape in Amsterdam's shipyards back in 1737, commissioned by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for the Chamber of Amsterdam. On October 24th of that same year, this majestic vessel set off on its maiden voyage from Texel bound for Batavia. By January 1740, the Rooswijk had made it to Europe's southern shores and was preparing to embark on its second voyage when disaster struck: it ran aground at the infamous Goodwin Sands. Fast forward to 1996, Ken Welling, an intrepid explorer, officially documented the site as a VOC-wreck, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the Rooswijk's story. The years that followed saw the site partially excavated between 2004 and 2005, with over 10,000 artefacts carefully lifted from their resting place. Today, "The Rooswijk" is proudly recognized as a Protected Wreck Site. As erosion threatens to erase this piece of history, an archaeological re-assessment was conducted in 2016 by a team of experts comprising the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), Historic England, and other key stakeholders such as the Salvage owner, the licensee, and the previous dive team. A closer look at these anchors reveals that they were discovered intact at the main site of the wreck. Meanwhile, a highly detailed 3D model was created using an impressive 428 cameras. With over 30 million points and 6 million faces, the original model is nothing short of breathtaking. The web version, however, has been scaled down to a still-impressive 600k faces.