At the beginning of the project research was undertaken in several Belgian and Dutch libraries, such as in Leuven and Leiden, in order to find existing literature on this topic. Additional research was undertaken in these countries’ archives (Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, The Hague) to find existing documents on this subject. The majority of documents consisted of reports on the water protection system. The reading of these documents allowed for a better understanding of the water management system, its costs and the possibilities and difficulties to innovate. Because the flood or water protection system was taken care of by local or subnational authorities, these aspects are well documented. Personal reports and church documents gave an insight in how the people in the coastal areas viewed the likelihood of a nascent flooding and their reaction to such a possibility.
Far less documented are technological innovations in commercial activities, for these were rarely written down and kept in archives. This was especially the case for shipping and shipbuilding. Safeguarding ships against shipworm attacks is not a well-documented item. Nevertheless, ship builders started to cover wooden ship hulls in the 18th century with copper plates. The copper plates stopped the shipworms from destroying the wood, but it also proved to be an excellent anti-fouling method because the copper’s oxidation prevents marine organisms, such as molluscs, algae or cnidaria (e.g. sea anemones) to grow and cover the ship hull. Over time the copper plated ship hulls remained smooth which allowed for less resistance in the water and thus for faster travel. This fact was recognised in the 18th century, but it has remained impossible until this day to calculate this advantage due to a lack of sources. To calculate this advantage of the copper plated ship hulls, two series of wooden boxes were made in a shipyard specialised in old sailing ships. One series was covered with copper plates. Both groups of boxes were immersed at the CNRS marine biological test station in Banyuls-sur-Mer, some for six months and others for 18 months. Then the boxes were taken to the hydrodynamic test facility of the Université de Liège in Belgium to measure their resistance in the water. The results allows to calculate the advantage of this new shipbuilding technology. A technology that was invented because of the shipworm threat. Faster ships meant higher commercial revenues for ship owners, faster military ships for those countries that were able to tap the copper ore, or in other words an important commercial and geopolitical advantage.
