Early cog

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Although early cogs are depicted from the 9th century onwards, no such shipwreck has been found yet. The early cog, as envisioned by experts, is a Frisian invention, adapted to the specific circumstances of the Rhine-Scheldt delta. The tide in this zone requires a boat with a flat bottom that can operate in shallow water and rest on the bottom at low tide (to be loaded and unloaded). As this boat has nearly no keel, it has limited capacities to be used on the open sea, but it was capable of crossing the Channel area of the North Sea between the County of Flanders and England in reasonable weather conditions. In this way, it became the most used transport ship from the 10th century onwards in this delta area. As sailing on the winding rivers of the mainland was difficult, it was rowed or poled when going to inland harbours.