Take a Virtual Tour of a 17th-Century Dutch Smugglers’ Shipwreck

When the wreck of the Dutch smuggling ship Melckmeyt was found off the coast of Iceland in 1992, the only way to explore it was with diving equipment. That's no longer the case: As Live Science reports, shipwreck enthusiasts can now experience the watery ruin at home by taking a virtual tour.

Sunk by a storm on October 16, 1659, the Melckmeyt (Dutch for Milkmaid) is Iceland's oldest shipwreck. Its origins are Dutch, but when it set sail 360 years ago, the vessel flew a Danish flag. That's because it had been illegal for the Netherlands to trade with Iceland, which was ruled by Denmark at the time, so to smuggle goods into Icelandic ports, the Dutch sailors posed as a Danish crew.

The Melckmeyt was one of a fleet of illicit merchant ships meant to travel from the Netherlands to Iceland in 1659. After sinking that year, the wreck spent centuries in the cold, protective waters off the island of Flatey near Iceland's west coast. When it was discovered by local divers in the early 1990s, the lower hull of the ship was still in impressive condition.

The shipwreck remains in its frigid resting place at the bottom of the North Atlantic, but you don't need to book a flight or don a wetsuit to see it. In 2016, researchers from the University of Iceland and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands captured high-resolution scans of site and used them to construct a 3D model. Today, that model is available for anyone to explore on YouTube, either as a virtual reality experience with a headset or an interactive 360° video.

During the three-minute tour, you'll follow virtual divers on a journey into the ship's remains. The video ends with a computer-generated model showing what the ship might have looked like before it was ravaged by time. The video is free for anyone to watch from their computer, but if you find yourself in Iceland, you can view the recreation with a VR headset at the Reykjavik Maritime Museum.

Itching to get in touch with your inner deep-sea explorer? Here are some shipwrecks you can visit in real-life.