Wendela

The final voyage

Wendela (also spelled Vendela) had served the Danish Asiatic Company since 1732 and had already completed at least one round voyage to Tranquebar before setting out again from Copenhagen in November 1737. Her documented outbound cargo was overwhelmingly monetary: contemporary sources describe 79 bars of silver and 31 sacks of minted silver coin among a cargo that also included sheet metal, pig iron, muskets, wine, and thousands of gunflints for trade.

During a storm on the night of 18–19 December 1737 the ship wrecked at Heilinabretta, on the east side of Fetlar in the Shetland Islands, with the loss of all aboard. Word of the loss reached the mainland only slowly; local Shetlanders recovered some silver from the rocks in the weeks after, and licensed 'wreckmen' of the era later worked the site under crown contract. The wreck earned the local name 'the Silver Ship' for the scale of its cargo.

What was aboard

18th-century Shetland Vice-Admiralty and Danish Asiatic Company records, together with the itemized 1971 excavation handlist compiled for the National Monuments Record of Scotland, together document the ship's cargo and recovered finds with unusual specificity.

Silver bar and coin: The outbound cargo is documented as including 79 bars of silver and 31 sacks of minted silver coin; the 1971 excavation recovered 605 whole silver coins plus fragments.

Gold coin and a signet ring: The 1971 excavation recovered 44 gold coins and a gold signet ring, alongside brass fittings and weights.

Trade goods: Sheet metal, pig iron, 100 muskets, barrels of wine and claret, rope, copper wire, coal, and roughly 37,000 gunflints are recorded as part of the outbound cargo.

Ship's fittings: Lead musket balls, fragments of hull sheathing, and other ironwork were recovered and catalogued during the 1971 survey.

How to collect

Distinguish 18th-century wreckmen recovery from the 1971 excavation: Silver recovered by contemporary Shetland salvors in 1737–38 predates Sténuit's documented 1971 finds by more than two centuries; a seller's claimed source period should be internally consistent.

Cross-check against the published excavation handlist: The Canmore/Shetland Archives handlist itemizes the 1971 recovery by material and rough count, a useful benchmark for plausibility.

Ask for Scottish wreck-licensing documentation: Historic wreck recovery in Scottish waters is subject to Receiver of Wreck reporting; legitimate post-1971 material should have a paper trail.

Note the site's modest coin count: The documented 1971 finds (605 silver, 44 gold coins) are modest by treasure-wreck standards; claims of large undocumented hoards from this site should be treated with caution.