Sure, we are always finding interesting things in the waters of the world but this find is something truly amazing. We all hope to come across old ships and things of that sort but well, it doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as you’d expect.
According to The Express, divers from Finland have managed to come across a 400 or so year old ship that was hidden away in the depths of the Baltic Sea. This ship is mind-blowingly well-preserved and while right now we don’t know much about it, in time we will know a lot more than you might expect. Because of where this ship was found, it was able to be preserved much better than most other ships found in the waters of our world. You see, temperatures there are almost freezing and thus anything that would have broken the ship down aren’t necessarily present like they would be in other places.
Baltic Sea discovery: ‘Well preserved’ 400-year-old ship found in depths of #Baltic Sea https://t.co/fLCECbrqHx #shipwreck pic.twitter.com/G6m3RrdbRf
— Debborah Donnelly (@DebbyDonnelly) September 14, 2020
The divers wrote as follows on this find explaining more of what it is:
It is only in rare places around the world, including the Baltic Sea, where wooden wrecks can survive for centuries without being destroyed by chemical, biochemical and biological decaying processes. Due to low salinity, absolute darkness, and very low temperatures all year round these processes are very slow in the Baltic. Perhaps most importantly, wood boring organisms such as shipworm cannot live in such environment. Even in temperate seas, all wooden wrecks vanish in decades, unless buried in sediments.
This find, a practically intact and complete Dutch Fluit ship, the Queen of the Baltic trade from almost 400 years back, is a good example of the importance of the Baltic Sea, and especially the Gulf of Finland as a special cellar of the sea. Only here the environment preserves the wrecks, which are plentiful due to the sea being a very important trade route and battleground for many wars during centuries. And all of these wrecks are within the range of modern technical diving methods! Badewanne team will continue documenting and investigating this significant wreck in co-operation with Finnish Heritage Agency of Antiquities and other partners, Including Associate Professor Dr. Niklas Eriksson, Maritime Archaeologist, Univ. of Stockholm, Sweden:
“The wreck reveals many of the characteristics of the fluit but also some unique features, not least the construction of the stern. It might be that this is an early example of the design. The wreck thus offers a unique opportunity to investigate the development of a ship type that sailed all over the world and became the tool that laid the foundation for early modern globalization,” says Dr. Eriksson.
This ship is quite interesting because it is one that can carry twice as much cargo as the vessels that would have rivaled it during its time of sailing the seas. This kind of ship was designed quite well but even-so not many are present in the world today from back then and so, that means this find is something that holds a huge piece of history. Being so well-preserved, we can really get a good look at it.
To learn more about this fascinating ship take a look at the video below. I for one am more blown away each time I see more about it. Who knows what else could be out there waiting to be discovered?