The find at Runde: the shipwreck



On the morning of 8 March 1725, inhabitants of the Goksøyr farm at Runde saw that a storm had washed some wreckage onto the shore. Fortuitously, the legislative assembly was to be held nearby and the chief administrative officer, Erik Must, was soon informed about the discovery of the wreckage. He sent his representatives to Runde to investigate.
 

Read about:
the Akerendam, 
Salvage 1725, 
Salvage 1972, 
Overview, Cleaning 

 In the following days and weeks dead bodies and wreckage were found over a large area. On 19 March, a public auction was held over items from the wreckage, in accordance with contemporary laws and customs. The auctioned items included barrel staves, sailcloth, iron bands and one or more 50-litre barrels of French wine.

C.F. Dirik, the lighthouse master, made this drawing from Runde in 1869. A treasure-bearing ship was supposed to have foundered at the spot marked by a cross. (In 1972, 32 of the Akerendam's cannons were found here.) 

 Also present at the auction was the sheriff from Ørstad, Ole Olsen Wiig (known as Ole Haugsholmen), the local representative for Niels Weinwick, the Dutch consul and commissioner for Vereenigte Oostindische Compagnie in Norway. On 25 March he went out alone to the northern tip of Runde and found the site of the shipwreck. According to his testimony in subsequent court hearings, he had seen : 

"a large number of dead, naked bodies, all of them badly broken, and a sizeable quantity of personal goods and cargo, all in the same area."

Approximately 200 people were on board the Akerendam when it foundered, not one of whom survived.