Unknown divers appear to have located and visited the protected 58m-deep “Champagne Wreck” discovered by the Polish Baltictech dive group off Sweden in July – and to have pilfered some of its liquid cargo.
Baltictech divers recently paid a return visit to the wreck sanctioned by the Swedish authorities, which was when they found that the site had been disturbed since their last dive.
Their intention had been to carry out a more thorough inventory than before, and for underwater photogrammetry specialist Bartlomiej Pitala to collect the footage he required to create a “super-accurate” 3D model of the wreck.
The divers had wanted to spend more time on the as-yet unidentified wreck, but stormy weather cut the trip shorter than planned.
“Too bad, because we wanted to do much more, especially since the wreckage had already been ‘visited’ by divers,” said Baltictech leader Tomasz Stachura. “Lots of things are scattered and a couple of bottles of champagne ‘missing’.”
The discovery of the 19th-century wreck some 20 miles south of Öland in July had been reported to the Swedish Maritime Administration, which stated that while it had been aware of the ship it had known nothing about its valuable contents.
For its protection the wreck had quickly been designated an Ancient Monument by the County Administrative Board of Blekinge, making it illegal to dive near, interfere with or damage it, or to remove any artefact. The Swedish Coast Guard is responsible for enforcing the diving ban.
The ship was originally reported to contain at least 100 bottles of champagne and wine, mineral water in bottles identified as produced between 1850 and 1867, and large amounts of porcelain. It was surmised that the consignment could have been heading to Russia for use at the tsar’s court.
Pitala has now described the contents as “hundreds of corked bottles of over-150-year-old champagne of a famous company… a similar amount of ceramic (also corked) bottles with Selters mineral water, and tens of kilograms of decorative ceramic dishes and bowls”.
Pitala has now produced more than twenty 3D models of wrecks from depths to 85m in collaboration with the Baltictech group and Poland’s National Maritime Museum. He will be discussing his model of the Champagne Wreck at the Baltictech conference in Gdynia on 23-24 November.
Also read: Cases of champagne found on 19th Century wreck, Research continues on the Karlsruhe shipwreck, Iron lifted from 500-year-old Swedish shipwreck, Ammo toolbox & combat platforms on 15th-century wreck
