I follow the archaeologist into the cellar. Archeology departments apparently belong underground. It is surprisingly spacious and light there. In an office full of files, we talk about a recently excavated tannery in Enkhuizen. I am interested in the found tannin. That botanical material says something about the origin of a piece of leather and the local landscape. "Is that right?" Michiel asks a little too loudly and visibly enthusiastically. “Then I háve to show you something!” He jumps up, runs away and returns a moment later with a large roll of dark leather under his arm. He rolls out the stiff material over the linoleum, stands next to the skin and asks (a little out of breath), “Where did this come from?”

I kneel in front of the hide and gently run my hand over its surface. As soon as I sniff its scent, a mythical feeling comes over me. That deep dark red-brown color, the fine waffle pattern in the grain side (clearly applied by hand) and the spicy aroma of birch pitch: This is rare, ancient Russian leather or 'Cuir de Russie’!

Two months later I am on the ferry to Texel with archeologist Michiel. I stare into the grayish distance. Sky and water mix on the eastern horizon. It is almost three centuries ago that from that eastern horizon a freighter sails, caring a precious cargo: Russian leather. The ship sinks just before it reaches the harbor. On the seabed thick layers of sand and silt cover the wreck up. In her belly she carries the leather. Rolled up and tied with rope, they await their fate. Their backs supported by Muscovy mats of linden bark and held together by the ever-deteriorating wood of the wreck. Until a diver goes underwater near Vogelzand V. He feels something in the mud that he does not recognize. Visibility is poor in the turbid Wadden water. Out of curiosity he takes the mysterious scrolls above water.

Michiel and I are on our way to Museum Kaap Skil. After nearly 300 years, the surfaced and desalinated skins have been brought back to the surface and brought together in the museum. Conservator and 'Cuir de Russie' expert Élise Blouet came over from France to Texel. With her we will examine these maritime skins. What do the divers have to say about this miraculous find? What will the skins show us? What stories will they tell us? What questions will we never get answers to?

Along the ferry, the water flows towards the North Sea. The Wadden Sea is emptying. The gravitational pull of the moon gently rocks the earth. The water follows that movement in the constant, slow rhythm of high and low, of ebb and flow. This current wears out deep channels and leaves sediment on tidal banks. Matter is deposited and washed away in the ever-changing tidal landscape. A landscape of covering up and exposing.

Sea skin.

In 2022, Michiel Bartels published the archaeological research report on the Leather Wreck.

It was a wonderful experience to be involved in this. I thank everyone I have had the pleasure of meeting around this material:

First of all, Michiel Bartels, who took me along in his research.

Élise Blouet, Alec Ewing  (museum Kaap Skil), Divers Club Texel DCT and Rens Top (Koninklijke Bibliotheek)

For more info about the leather wreck and Cuir de Russie (juchtleer in Dutch):

Publication Michiel Bartels (Archeologie West Friesland) -  leder wrak

Élise Blouet: Cuir de Russie, mémoire du tan - eliseblouet.com