Remarkable discovery: Shipwreck in Baltic Sea filled with crates of champagne

24 July 2024 , 18:36

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Champagne bottles still neatly lined up on the sailing ship, which sank in the Baltic sea about 170 years ago. Photograph: Tomasz Stachura/Baltictech

Cargo of vessel capsized near Sweden in 19th century also includes mineral water, say Polish divers

Divers have discovered a 19th-century shipwreck off the Swedish coast “loaded to the brim” with champagne.

The group, from Poland, were diving in the Baltic 20 nautical miles (37km) south of the island of Öland when they found the boat, believed to be a merchant vessel, by chance last week. 

The brackish water of the Baltic, which is home to an estimated 100,000 shipwrecks, is an attractive destination for divers, marine archaeologists and, more recently, looters.

The divers counted about 100 champagne bottles in the ship’s hold as well as porcelain and mineral water.

“The whole wreck is loaded to the brim with crates of champagne, mineral water and china,” Tomasz Stachura, the leader of the Baltictech diving group, told AFP.

He said: “I have been diving for 40 years and it often happens that there is one bottle or two … to discover a wreck with so much cargo, it’s a first for me.”

One of the Polish divers exploring the sunken vessel, which was found to be carrying mineral water and porcelain as well as champagne. Photograph: Tomasz Stachura/Baltictech

The divers had been searching the seabed for sunken ships for years “out of pure curiosity” when they came across the wreck. They said the discovery of the sealed clay water bottles helped them determine that the vessel had capsized in the second half of the 19th century.

“We managed to take pictures of the brand name stamped on a clay bottle, which turned out to be one from the German company Selters – and the logo had this precise shape during that period,” Stachura said.

The divers said they had notified Swedish regional authorities about the wreck, but that it would take time for them to bring the champagne bottles to land.

“[The ship] had been lying there for 170 years so let it lie there for one more year, and we will have time to better prepare for the operation,” Stachura said.

Thomas Brown