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The ministry estimates that the ship, which was transporting several tons of copper plates, had been built in 1540 - during the reign of Charles V, which makes the vessel about 500 years old.
Maritime investigators from the Netherlands have accidentally recovered what is believed to be a 16th-century shipwreck - the oldest found to date, according to officials Wednesday.
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"It's the oldest sea-going ship ever found in Dutch waters," the Netherlands science and culture ministry announced, in a statement. "An immediate archaeological survey was started and researchers determined the wood dated from 1536.”
The ministry estimates that the ship, which was transporting several tons of copper plates, had been built in 1540 - during the reign of Charles V, which makes the vessel about 500 years old.
"It is especially interesting that the copper plates carry the emblem of the Fugger family," the ministry release explained.
The Fugger family, who are based in Augsburg in Germany, amassed a massive fortune in banking and as merchants holding a monopoly over copper production.
Several wooden beams from a vessel, with a smooth hull measuring approximately 30 meters long, were also among the discovery.
The shipwreck is being described as "the missing link" in shipping construction.
"It's the way the ship was built that's very interesting because you have to think 100 years later the Netherlands was in the middle of its Golden Age - and this ship is from a transition period," maritime archaeologist Martijn Manders related to the BBC, also disclosing that the Fuggers "were financing emperors and kings so they were enormously rich.”
A copper expert from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has identified the chemical substance in the cargo as identical to the first copper coins used in the Netherlands.
The marine find was displayed by the Netherlands' Cultural Heritage Agency Wednesday, and law enforcement officials are securing the wreck site.
Divers are expected to fully explore the ship, which remains on the seabed north of the island of Terschelling in the Wadden Sea, during the summer.
Dutch Education, Culture and Science Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven says the find is "spectacular and a real enrichment of Dutch cultural heritage," adding that "this is indeed a silver lining to a dark cloud. I'm curious to see what else will surface.”
The investigators were conducting a search for some 350 Panama-registered MSC Zoe containers which were washed overboard during a North Sea storm early January.
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