The mystery of the winter dress

Off the coast of the Netherlands is a long, narrow island that looks like a finger on the hand of Holland pointing north. The historic isle is called Texel, and it lies on a sea crossing that was a vital 17th-century trade route. Dyes and oils from the Mediterranean, Chinese porcelain, silks and majolica pottery passed through the tempestuous area known as the Texel Roads. Today, that same passageway has become a threshold between the modern day and the lost world of the Dutch Golden Age. For beneath the surface of the silver Wadden Sea lie the shipwrecked bones of more than a thousand galleons that were dashed to pieces as they made the perilous journey in a time when Dutch trade, science and art flourished.

Four hundred years later, these relics remain in the waters around Texel. The cold preserves them. Layers of sand and mud protect them from oxidising. But from time to time the winds change, currents stir and the ocean gives up a secret from the past.

In 2014, amateur divers were exploring one such wreck when they made an intriguing and