The story of the Vrouw Maria: The lost ship of incredible Dutch art treasures.

Two hundred and fifty-five years ago today, on October 9, 1771, a Dutch sailing ship called the Vrouw Maria sank in the Baltic Sea off the southern tip of Finland. The Vruow Maria, a cargo ship, had already been fighting the sea and elements for six days, having run aground in a storm off the small desolate island of Jurmo. The crew abandoned her and safely evacuated, but after they returned to the ship they tried to salvage her to no avail. On October 9 she lost the battle with the sea and sank beneath the waves. At the time, few people realized that she was a treasure ship, and the fabulous art objects she was secretly carrying were lost—almost, but perhaps not definitely, forever.

The story of the Vruow Maria begins with the death of one Gerrit Braamcamp, a wealthy Dutch timber merchant and art collector in Amsterdam. Braamcamp’s specialty was Old Masters paintings, and he owned a couple of Rembrandts. When he died in the summer of 1771 an auction was held of his major works. One of the buyers was a Russian agent representing Tsar Catherine the Great, who was on the lookout for artwork with which to decorate her lavish St. Petersburg palace, the Hermitage. On July 31, the agent bought a number of paintings including “Large Herd of Oxen” by Paulus Potter and “Woman at her Toilette” by Gerard ter Borch, both dating from the previous century. The paintings were crated up and loaded aboard the Vruow Maria along with various other merchant goods including coffee, ivory, furniture and silver. Although customs dues were paid on the merchant goods, the King of Holland allowed the art treasures to pass without a fee. This turned out to be an important detail. After the Vrouw Maria grounded on a rock and lost its rudder, crewmen tried to salvage some of the cargo, but the paintings were not among them.