A late-sixteenth century freighter from the Workumer Nieuwland Polder in Workum, Friesland

The remains of a late sixteenth-century vessel were excavated near the town of Workum, in the province of Friesland, during the summer of 1992. This wreck (designated FWN 92) may be typical of a pram-like freighter from the second half of the sixteenth century, particularly one which was used along the shoal Frisian shores of the Zuiderzee and on the growing number of calas there. The excavation and analysis of FWN 92 provide new insight into the late-medieval watercraft of Northern Europe. FWN 92 belongs to a broad group of Dutch vessels that are hard chined, having flat carvel-built bottoms with lapstrake sides.