400-year-old shipwreck discovered in Stockholm archipelago

On 06/08/2009
In Underwater Archeology
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By Pirjo Svensson - Epoch Times

Swedish divers were surprised to discover a well-kept shipwreck from the 17th century outside the Värmdö municipality, in the archipelago of Stockholm.

“We were actually searching for a cargo ship that had sank in the 1940s, but then we found this instead,” Markus Hårde, one of the wreck divers told Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish paper.

The shipwreck is probably a Dutch trading ship from early 17th century. Marcus Hårde discovered the wreck together with Anders Backström and Jonas Rydin in May.

The divers saw a lion figurine on the rudder and nicknamed the it “The Lion Wreck.”

The ship with three masts seems to be well kept, and has been under 141 feet (43 meters) of water for 400 years.

The divers contacted Johan Rännby, a researcher in marine ecology, at Södertörns University in Stockholm.

“Why this discovery is exciting is because it is rather old. I have not as yet dived to see it, but by looking at the pictures and films, I am quite convinced it is from the 17th century,” Johan Rönnby said on Monday.

The ship seems to be a sister to “The Ghost Wreck,” found in 2007 in the middle of the Baltic Sea, East of Gotska Sandön, a tiny island outside east coast of Sweden.

After doing research the scientists stated that the Ghost Wreck was a Dutch trading ship from the beginning of 17th century, and was probably used for trade between Amsterdam and Stockholm.