When the Zuiderzee was still raging here, ships regularly foundered in the raging waters. After reclamation, remains of such ships ‘floated to the surface’ in several places. Viewed this way, the Northeast Polder is a ship graveyard on dry land.
Where shipwrecks have been discovered, so-called marker posts have been placed: three-metre-high blue and white posts with a red ship on them. You can find them everywhere in the landscape, along the road, in the forest, in a farmyard. Because yes, when the ships perished here, none of that was there yet. And it was only later, often by chance, that such wrecks were found in the ground. Some of these ships have been excavated, but much of it lies preserved in the landscape. Of the wreck itself, therefore, you usually see nothing, hence the marking with such a marker post.
Most shipwrecks were given the name of the plot on which they were found. For example, they were called NG11 or NP40. One of the shipwrecks discovered and excavated was named the Queen Anne. This is because the ship was most probably a British merchant ship and two rare Royal Portrait Spoons depicting Queen Anne, the 18th century queen of Great Britain, were found near this wreck. Of the ship, only the frames remain. These have been preserved and buried in the ground along Schoterweg in Bant as a monument.
Read more about the shipwreck of the Queen Anne
At the remains of the Queen Anne, in addition to a marker post, an extensive information panel and a see-through panel have been installed. Such a vista panel is a corten steel frame with a transparent plate, on which a drawing visualises something that is not (or no longer) visible in the landscape. The see-through panel ‘shipwreck’ shows what the Queen Anne probably looked like, floating on the water right next to the position where the remains of the shipwreck lie today. Thanks to the vista panel, the watery history of the Northeast Polder comes to life a bit more. Just such a pole is impressive, especially if you see several along the way, but it says so little in the end.
Read more about this see-through panel
