The find at Runde:  
Salvage 1725



The shipwreck created quite a commotion in the district. The sheriff, Ole Haugsholmen, found out that the ship was Dutch and belonged to the Vereinigte Oostindische Compagnie. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Read about: 
the Akerendam, the Shipwreck, Salvage 1972, Overview, Cleaning 

 When one of the money chests had been brought to shore by Haugsholmen, a dispute arose regarding who should take charge of the salvage ? the owner or the state. In the end it was agreed that the state should be responsible for guarding the site while the Dutch consul's men carried out salvage work under the leadership of Ole Haugsholmen. 

During the summer and fall of 1725, four more chests were salvaged. By the end of the year the chests were so badly corroded and disintegrated that the lid of one broke open when it was being brought to the surface of the water. One of the documents from a judicial assembly, or "ting", dealing with the find, gives the following description: 

".. they had twice brought it up from the bottom, to the surface of the water. The first time they had it up close to the boat, the King's sentries were right along them, keeping guard. One of the guards, corporal Anders Larsen, jumped from his boat and into the salvage boat in order to help them. This caused the boat to tilt, nearly overturn, and take in a great deal of water. Since the hook was attached to a cramp under the catch on the chest, and the sudden movement of the boat caused the cramp to be pulled out, the chest broke free and sank to the bottom again." 

When the winter storms set in, the search was called off. 

 Attempts were made to find more of the ship's chests the following year, but the search proved unproductive. 

The shipwreck was soon forgotten. In the 1800s stories were being told about the strange coins found at Runde. These coins were sometimes associated with a legend about a ship from the Spanish armada that was believed to have foundered outside Runde at the end of the 1500's. 

Severine O. Runde, who was born in 1839, told her grandchild that when she attended school in Goksøyr, the children used to amuse themselves by going down to the beach to look for coins; they would occasionally find silver skillings wedged between the rocks.