The Swedish Naval Administration conducted the first studies of the Okänt Skepp underwater facility, which means “unknown ship” in Swedish. Experts believe that he was at least 500 years old and the ship could well have an official name, since in those days it was not widespread. But the more interesting —After all, according to indirect signs, this shipwreck can be the oldest in the Baltic, and most of all intriguers that the ship is perfectly preserved.
Okänt Skepp was found when studying the sea bottom for laying a new gas pipeline. The fragments of the ship lie at a depth of 140 m, in a layer of cold water with increased salinity and complete darkness in an unfavorable for life. This is probably why it is so perfectly preserved-experts are wondering why the ship even sank, because in the video and in 3D models it looks almost whole.
Long masts and part of the rigging have been preserved on Okänt Skepp, which is extremely unusual – as a rule, they break first. Technological openings for tools, elements of the finish are visible, even the boat remained on the ship, from which we can conclude that the team was not evacuated. But the ship is not small, its length is almost 18 m, which is only slightly smaller than Santa Maria, on which the Atlantic Ocean crossed at about the same time at the same time.
At the moment, only underwater robots that conducted inspection and video were descended to Okänt Skepp. But this data is enough to draw a conclusion – this is the oldest and best surviving ship from the sank in the Baltic. It is still difficult to say anything about his origin, under what flag he went, what he transported and why he sank. Swedish scientists plan to conclude an agreement with power engineers in order to have time to organize another expedition before the gas pipeline laying.
Source — The New York Times