Diving into History: Ancient Shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea

The bottom of the ocean tells a story of human history through the ages. The story I will tell you today starts 1,000 years ago back in the Viking Age. It leads us through the middle ages, the era of huge naval battles, the dawn of global trade, and all the way to the present day. It’s the story about the shipwrecks of the Baltic Sea.

Nestled in Northern Europe, the Baltic Sea is bordered by countries rich in maritime history, including Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany. Among these, the waters around Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, hold a particularly dense and fascinating collection of shipwrecks. These wrecks, preserved in the brackish waters of the archipelago, offer a unique window into the past, from Viking vessels to the grand warships of the Swedish Empire.

The Baltic Sea is the youngest sea on the planet, but it is home to some of the oldest, best preserved shipwrecks in the world. For many centuries, the waters around Stockholm have been an important route for trade, wars, traveling and fishing. Anything from ancient Viking ships, to majestic warships and merchant vessels have sailed here. It is estimated that over 100,000 wrecks rest on the seabed in this brackish water with a significant number scattered around Stockholm’s archipelago.

These wrecks tell us a lot more than just the specific ship building techniques and designs of each era, but also about politics, the people and the way they lived. The artifacts on these wrecks tell us what the State and the people valued in terms of goods and personal belongings, where they were sailing and for what purpose.

Science and Diving

So, how come we know all this? We can determine the age of the wreck by examining the wood it’s built from. This is done by a method called dendrochronology, the science of counting tree rings. This technique can not only tell us the age of the ship, but also what region the wood comes from.

The rest we know from many years of diving these wrecks. I would say that diving on these historically significant sunken ships makes diving in the Baltic Sea a very different experience, compared to wreck diving in many other locations. Not just the old age of the wrecks but also the artifacts you see, the environment and the diving conditions.

Diving the King's Warships

Some of my personal favorite wrecks to dive are the warships from the 16th and 17th centuries. These were not just the King’s ships, but a national pride, a symbol of power and an important weapon for protecting the country. They were built to defend the region from other kingdoms who wanted to gain control and power over the important trade routes of the Baltic Sea. These ships are impressive and extraordinary. Built from top quality dark oak wood, carrying huge iron cannons and loads of exclusive goods such as Bartman’s jugs, important tools, gold and silver coins, chalk pipes and many personal belongings from the crew and soldiers of the ship.

One of these wrecks is His Majesty's “The Apple”. The Apple was a much tougher and more impressive ship than the name suggests. It is the sister ship of the famous Vasa ship. She was 50 meters (150 ft) long and built in 1661. The Apple was a warship armed with 84 iron cannons and a crew of 300 sea men and 150 soldiers. She fought and survived several big battles. One stormy night in 1676, the ship had just return home to Stockholm from the battle field. While the crew was busy mooring the ship in a protected bay, something went terribly wrong. The wind caught the ship, she leaned heavily to one side and water rushed in. The catastrophe happened fast and the Apple sunk to the bottom of the sea. She now rests in 15 meters (45 ft) of water close to shore, making it very accessible for diving.

The Perfect Wreck Graveyard

Why are these wrecks still there for us to enjoy after all these years on the sea floor? The answer is, the perfect conditions of the Baltic Sea. The water here is brackish, a mix of salt and fresh water, due to the many rivers flowing into the sea. This keeps the salinity very low.

Also, the water is cold all year round; it's dark and oxygen levels are low. Many divers and marine life might not consider these as the perfect conditions, but for preserving old shipwrecks it's just right. The brackish, dark, cold water keeps the wood eating shipworms away. A wooden wreck in a salt water ocean would be eaten and gone in less than 100 years, but here they seem to last forever.

Can You Dive These Wrecks?

Wrecks of ships that sank before the year of 1850 are considered ancient monuments and are protected under the Swedish Historic Environment Act. You are however, allowed to dive on most of these, although it is prohibited to touch or make any damage to the wrecks and the artefacts on or nearby the wrecks. Some of the more pristine and historically significant wrecks have certain diving rules, such as you must apply for permission from the Authorities beforehand. You must also dive with a certified wreck guide, approved by the Authorities, in order to make sure nothing is being damaged or stolen. The guides have great knowledge of the history of the wrecks and can point out some very cool and interesting objects which might otherwise be hard to find or identify.

In terms of training and experience level it's important to be confident diving with a drysuit, hood and gloves, and it helps to not be afraid of the dark (or have a great dive light). It's also important to be on top of your buoyancy in order not to cause any damage to these old wrecks. They've been around for a long time and like most old things they can be pretty fragile.

Wreck Plundering

The Baltic Sea might not be well known for piracy, but under the surface this is actually quite a big problem. When it comes to wrecks from 1850 or earlier, it’s prohibited by law to salvage or move any objects from the wreck itself and the nearby seabed. These wrecks are identified as cultural heritage and are therefore protected.

Last year, four Swedish men were sentenced to prison for plundering of historical wrecks in the Baltic Sea. They appear to have engaged in large-scale systematic looting of several wrecks and protected sites, including wrecks of older warships. This had been going on for many years and hundreds of ancient artefacts were found in their possession, including a 17th century iron cannon. This is the first time someone has been imprisoned for this type of crime in Sweden, and it serves as a clear message that wreck plundering is a crime not to be taken lightly.

Ghost Nets

The phenomena of ghost nets is just as scary as it sounds. Ghost nets are abandoned or lost fishing nets getting stuck on bottom structures such as sunken ships. These nets continue to work on their own, catching not only fish but also seals, sea birds and other animals. For these animals, the ghost nets are floating death traps. Modern fishing nets are often made from nylon, with a decomposing time of up to several hundred years. These nets are therefore also a cause for much of the plastic in our oceans.

Ghost nets are a big problem in the Baltic Sea due to being a small, shallow sea with a huge number of wrecks, and a long tradition of fishing in the region. Here the ghost nets have particularly serious consequences for the cod, which is already threatened by both overfishing and eutrophication, causing a lack of oxygen in the cod’s breeding grounds.

A Strong Diving Community Fighting Back

In Sweden, we have a strong diving community working for conservation of both the wrecks and the marine life of the Baltic Sea. When it comes to fighting the ghost nets, there's an awesome voluntary initiative called Operation Ghost Nets.

A group of experienced, highly skilled and passionate divers have come together to make a change. For several years this group have located, released and recovered ghost nets from wrecks in the Baltic Sea. It’s a hard and risky project as the nets can weigh several tons and are often badly entangled in the wreck structures. The group is looking for more volunteers to join and applications are accepted for upcoming projects.

When it comes to wreck conservation, my local dive shop, Captain Baltic, has a close collaboration with the Authorities. We visit the wrecks frequently and take lots of photos on each dive. When we suspect that something has gone missing, been moved or damaged on the wrecks, we compare our photographs to older photos for validation and then report the findings. Although plundering in the Baltic Sea has been a problem for many years, it is getting a lot better. Most divers today are very aware of the issue and tend to better understand the value of preserving the wrecks and the history they reveal. For future generations of divers to explore, and for new stories to be told. These wrecks are a unique cultural treasure and we hope to keep them that way for many generations to come.

Conclusion

If you’re intrigued by the idea of exploring these historic shipwrecks, diving in the Baltic Sea, particularly around Stockholm, offers an unparalleled experience. As mentioned earlier in the article, to dive these wrecks, you’ll need to be comfortable diving in cold water with a drysuit, and it’s essential to be proficient with buoyancy control to avoid damaging these fragile sites. I would recommend reaching out to the dive shop, Captain Baltic, who will be able to answer additional questions and get you set up to explore.

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