The unknown disease of the first Slyckens locks. Shipworms and their impact on the Flemish coast in the eighteenth century

In the 1730s, the Flemish coast became massively infested by shipworms. Not only ships, but also wooden infrastructure along the coast, like dikes, beacons, bridges, quays and locks were attacked by these small voracious marine molluscs. It was one of the main ecological disasters to hit North-Western Europe in the eighteenth century. This contribution analyses how the different social groups within the Flemish society coped with this infestation, particularly with regard to the locks of Slyckens along the Bruges-Ostend canal. These locks were of great importance for both the harbours of Bruges and Ostend, as for the water management in the low lying Flemish plain. Ultimately on 13 August 1752, the shipworm infested locks collapsed and the panic stricken population had to fight day and night to rescue its cities, villages and farmsteads from the rising sea water.