Three Well-Preserved Shipwrecks Found in Baltic Sea in ‘World Sensation’
Baltic sea after storm (File photo).
With its bottom environment acidic and low in oxygen, the Baltic Sea ranks among the world’s best harbors of shipwrecks, which are not destroyed by worms and spared by fishing gear. Nevertheless, a single find that includes three centuries-old ships is a rarity even for such a rich milieu. A joint expert team from the Jutland Maritime War Museum and the Danish National Museum has found wholly three well-preserved shipwrecks on the bottom of the Baltic sea, approximately 150 meters below the water’s surface.“It feels like Christmas Eve”, ship architect, marine archaeologist and expedition member Christian Lemée told Danish media about the unusual find, whereas expedition leader and director of the Jutland Maritime War Museum Gert Normann Andersen described it as a “world sensation”.Two of the shipwrecks are former merchant ships and are presumably of Dutch origin. One dates from somewhere between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th and is approximately 25-27 meters long. The other dates from the 17th century is a slightly smaller at approximately 16-17 meters.The third one is up to 27 meters, dates from the latter half of the 18th century and is likely to come from Scandinavia. While it is also a merchant vessel, it is equipped with cannons — probably to defend itself.“The wrecks are almost as they were on the day they sank hundreds of years ago. I have been diving all my life and have examined hundreds of wrecks, but I have never seen anything like this. The ships stood as if they had just been abandoned”, Gert Normann Andersen, expedition leader and director of the Jutland Maritime War Museum.The reason is that worms and other animals that normally attack woodwork cannot survive in the Baltic Sea, where the bottom environment is acidic and low in oxygen. Therefore, the Baltic Sea ranks among the places believed to harbor to the world’s best-preserved wooden shipwrecks, alongside the American lakes. By contrast, in neighboring North Sea all the woodwork gets destroyed in record time by worms and heavy fishing gear.
Science & TechLegendary 17th-Century Flagship’s Twin Found in Sweden25 October, 06:25 GMTThe ships were found several nautical miles apart, and there is no indication of a connection between them.The circumstances of the ships’ demise remain unknown so far. Since there are no cannon holes in the ships’ hulls, the rough waters of the Baltic Sea are expected to be the culprit, since some of the wrecks bear signs of damage from wind and weather, including broken masts or other wooden planks.The researchers intend to leave the remains as they are, without even looking at their cargo. Gert Normann Andersen explained that “a wreck so beautiful must be allowed to stand still”, adding that the names and the exact contents of the ships may be established with the help of historical archives.
