2023-08-23 08:43:54
“And then we went down.” According to Jim Hansson, he discovered details under water that left no room for doubt. With a bottle on his back and a mask in front of his face, he recognized the typical shipbuilding of the early 17th century, saw the cannon opening on the second deck, a large gap in the wooden outer wall. The underwater archaeologist gets teary-eyed when he talks about the greatest moment of his career so far: the discovery of the “Äpplet” in December 2021.
When it was also officially confirmed on the basis of wood samples in autumn 2022 that the discovery by Hansson and his team was the “Äpplet”, one of three sister ships of the famous “Vasa”, this was celebrated as a sensation. The four galleons were among the largest battleships of their time.
The search took years, reports Hansson. “The Äpplet lay there, forgotten in the Stockholm archipelago since 1659.” Shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea are not uncommon. “There’s a lot of secrets in the area,” says Hansson.
The marine archaeologists Jim Hansson (right) and Patrik Höglund were delighted when it was confirmed that the discovery really was the “Äpplet”.
Quelle: picture alliance/TT NEWS AGENCY/Jonas Ekstr?mer/TT
While the exact location of the Äpplet wreck is not disclosed, dive tourists have plenty of opportunities for underwater exploration just near the island-built Swedish capital. The area south-east of Stockholm was once a hub for shipping in the Baltic Sea, and Sweden’s naval fleet was stationed here.
Swimming in the Baltic Sea is like swimming in a museum
“The green waters of the Baltic Sea are full of wrecks,” says Emmy Ahlén from the Captain Baltic Wreck Dive Resort in Dalarö. In 2011, not far from the diving school, Sweden’s first “maritime cultural reserve” was set up to make the eerie shipping heritage more accessible to hobby frog people: the Dalarö Diving Park in the archipelago south-east of Stockholm. There, shipwrecks from the 17th century can be toured with fins and bottles in the company of a trained wreck guide – smaller fishing boats, larger merchant ships.
Source: OpenStreetMap, WELT infographic
“The closest wrecks are that of the ‘Anna-Maria’ and that off Jutholmen,” says Ahlén. Above all, the wooden cargo ship “Anna Maria” is attractive to most divers, it lies at a depth of about 20 meters and is well preserved – except for the burn marks that indicate its end: “In a cold winter in 1709 it sank, when a fire broke out on board.” The ship, which has not yet been identified with certainty, also sank near the small island of Jutholmen around this time, with parts of the former cargo still lying on deck.
The wealth of sunken ships is also great elsewhere in the Baltic Sea. There are many well-preserved ship remains around the island of Gotland or the Åland Islands belonging to Finland. “We have a unique environment where you swim like you’re in a museum and the diving itself is mainly to see these sights,” says Ahlén.
Detail of the wreck of the “Äpplet”, one of three sister ships of the famous “Vasa”
Quelle: picture alliance/TT NEWS AGENCY/Jim Hansson, Vrak/SMTM
Well over 20,000 sunken ships have already been documented, and it is estimated that tens of thousands are still undiscovered. City guide and hobby diver Gunilla Kuehner also raves about “endless possibilities” when visiting the Vrak Museum on Stockholm’s museum island Djurgården, which will open in autumn 2021.
She stands in front of an illuminated plaque showing a myriad of points along the coast from Gotland to the north of the Gulf of Finland, each representing an identified wreck. She, too, has already discovered one thing: “It was a flute from the 17th century, the truck of that time.”
Why the wrecks are so well preserved
The fact that the Baltic Sea is so rich in traces and remains of past shipping eras is due to its low salinity compared to other seas. Wood lasts much longer: “In brackish water, the mussel can Naval grinding do not live in significant populations,” says Gunilla Kuehner. It is better known as the shipworm. In saline waters, this ensures that there is often hardly anything left of wrecked ships from the time before the Industrial Revolution.
Visitors with VR glasses during a virtual dive at the Vrak Museum in Stockholm
Source: Stefan Weissenborn
Diving guide Ahlén regularly visits around 40 wrecks with diving tourists in the wider area of Dalarö. “My personal favorite is the ‘Gröne Jägaren’ because she has such a great story.” The cannon-armed warship had survived battles against Denmark off Öland during the Scanian War. But it sank when, in 1676, a powder keg exploded on board, believed to have been ignited by runaway embers from the galley. Some salvaged parts of the wreck discovered in 1950 are now on display at the Swedish Maritime Museum.
However, the greatest relevant museum treasure is the “Vasa”, which was lifted off the seabed in 1961 after 333 years on the seabed. It can be viewed in all its glory in its own museum on Djurgården. It is often said that all of Sweden is hardly more proud of anything than this galleon. She was built in the 1620s along with her three sister ships by order of King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden as what was perhaps the largest battleship in the world at the time as a demonstration of power during the Thirty Years’ War.
The ship “Vasa”, which was raised after 333 years on the seabed off Stockholm, can be viewed in a museum on Djurgården
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/Lehtikuva/Taneli Männikkö
But the ship turned out to be a bad design, and on the maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, it sank off the island of Beckholmen. After just over a kilometer of travel, a gust of wind grabbed it and capsized it. “Obviously we’re not proud that it sank, more that we were able to lift it and that it’s still there,” says Hansson.
The museum smells of chemicals
The very well-preserved “Vasa” was preserved in the dry dock for eleven years. Alone, the salvage was more than complex. The wreck was tunneled under several times on the sea floor in order to pass thick steel cables through it with which the ship could be lifted.
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In the large hall, which was built on the dry dock around the oak colossus of 60 meters, there is a slightly pungent smell; the wreck emits chemicals intended to slow the gradual decomposition process in the air.
“You don’t see a ship like this in this state of preservation anywhere else,” says Hansson. In places where the “vasa” is light, it has been reconstructed, but almost everywhere its wood is dark. He hopes that the battleship will be able to be visited for centuries to come. “But at some point it will have decomposed.”
The “Äpllet” remains hidden from amateur divers, but you can find an original piece of the wreck in the Vrak Museum
Source: Stefan Weissenborn
Thus, the “Äpplet” will probably outlive them in the better preserved brackish water of the Baltic Sea. There are currently no plans to raise the sister ship. Way too expensive. Unlike the “Vasa”, the more broadly designed “Äpplet” was in service for around 30 years.
In 1658 she was finally sunk as part of an underwater barrier. “It’s a kind of historical recycling,” says Hansson. The underwater wall was designed to keep enemy ships out of Stockholm. The other two sister ships of the “Vasa” were also sunk for this purpose. But so far nobody knows where.
For experienced cold water divers
The “Äpplet” will also remain hidden from hobby divers. “There is a ban on diving because the wreck is in a military zone,” says Emmy Ahlén. “But to dive something similar from the same period, the wrecks ‘Bodekull’ and ‘Riksäpplet’ are ideal.” Both ships are only for experienced cold water divers. The “Riksäpplet”, temporarily the flagship of the Reichsadmiral, ran aground off Dalarö in 1676 and sank. Parts of it were later used in the construction of one of the town hall’s wooden gates, Stockholms stadshus.
If you want to dive to a ship similar to the “Äpplet” from the same period, you can take a look at the “Bodekull” wreck
Quelle: Emmy Ahlén Vrakdykarpensionatet/Captain Baltic Wreck Dive Resort
If you want to see something of the “Äpplet” in the original, you have to visit the Vrak Museum. There, in an aquarium, are three salvaged pieces of wood from the former battleship. Unspectacular and rather unsightly – but anyone who knows the story will be fascinated.
Tips and information:
Getting there: From Germany there are two night train connections to Stockholm. The Swedish state railway SJ uses a Euronight daily from Berlin. The couchette cars have compartments with two by three bunks on top of each other. The sleeping cars offer made-up double beds (sj.se/en/travel-info/sj-euronight.html). An alternative is the night train operated between Easter and autumn by the private company Snälltåget (snalltaget.se/en).
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Accommodation: The Victory Hotel in Stockholm’s old town is charming and, thanks to the nautical collectors’ exhibits, almost a small maritime museum. It also offers self-catering guest apartments with a kitchen and large living area for up to six people; Double room from the equivalent of 160 euros (victoryhotel.se/en/victory-hotel/). Centrally located between the Old Town and Stockholm’s Södermalm district, the family-run Hotel Frantz occupies a historic building from 1647; Double room from 160 euros (hotelfrantz.com).
Dive: A boat trip with two dives in the Dalarö underwater park costs the equivalent of 115 euros at Captain Baltic, plus 90 euros for the equipment (vrakdykarpensionatet.se); similar prices call Dykcharter (dykcharter.se/en-GB).
Museums: The Vrak Museum (vrak.se/en/) in Stockholm is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Wednesdays until 8 p.m. Admission is the equivalent of 16 euros. The Vasa Museum (vasamuseet.se/en) in Stockholm is open in summer from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Admission: 16 euros. The combined ticket for both museums costs the equivalent of 27 euros. Sjöhistoriska Maritime Museum (www.sjohistoriska.se/en) in Stockholm is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and costs just under 9 euros to enter. Visitors under the age of 18 have free entry to all three museums.
Participation in the trip was supported by Visit Sweden. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at axelspringer.com/de/werte/downloads.
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