Another Swedish wreck found

[Nirvana]

Yesterday (Wednesday), another Swedish ship from 17th century was found. This time at a depth of 6m (about 18t).

She is slightly bigger than Wasa with 66 cannons.

Her name is Solen (the Sun), built in Lubeck 1669, sunk 1694.

Armament:

16x24 pounder

8x18 pounder

24x12 pounder

2x8 pounder

14x6 pounder

2x4 pounder

4x3 pounder

 

Length: 45meter

Width:12 meter

[bobcat]

Hi,

 

Where was she found and what condition is she in?

 

Thanks,

 

Bob Friedman

[Richard Griffith]

Dr. Per~!

 

I echo Bob's questions, plus any photos available yet?  

Will National Geographic (or similar) cover this one like they did for Wasa in the early 1960's ?

 

Duff

[Ulises Victoria]

Interesting, interesting. A link to some more info, if possible?

 

6m is almost at the surface. Are you sure of this fact?

 

Edit: A search on the internet gave me this result. Seems there is some different information.

 

http://www.wreck-diving.pl/Gulf_Wrecks/strony/Solen_16m.html

Edited October 8, 2015 by Ulises Victoria

[shiloh]

A wreck in 18 feet +/- that has lain for 374 years in oxygen rich shallow water, nice find. I would doubt that much is left of her, unless she was quickly buried in sand and silt with encrustations quickly covering any exposed metals. Ceramics would survive but in 18 feet of water, extensive salvage probably took place down through the years. Salvage and disruption caused by salvage probably has left little to be recovered today. Regardless, I hope a through search using every recovery technique be used, shallow water might even allow for a Coffer Dam to be placed around the wreck and the recovery could be done in mud, need to leave some water, so further damage is not caused by drying. Conservation facilities need to be available on site so any and all recovered items could start a stabilization process immediately. Those doing such recovery are more knowledgable than I on this subject, be watching to see what is eventually done, if anything.

Hope this wreck is an exception, to the ravages of man and time, and reveals much about the times she was sunk.

jud

Edited October 8, 2015 by shiloh

[Tadeusz43]

Hi,

In fact wreck of Solen was discovered in 1969.

http://www.wreck-diving.pl/Gulf_Wrecks/strony/Solen_16m.html

 

Solen is seventeenth century wooden Swedish warship - galleon, built for the Royal Swedish Navy. Solen was bought by the Swedes in the Netherlands, then rebuilt into a warship and armed in Alvsborgu.

During the Polish-Swedish war Solen attending in Swedish forces blocking the Gulf of Gdansk. The captain of the ship was Alexander Foratt. Solen also participated in the Battle of Oliwa in 28 November 1627. Then the ship was mistakenly taken for the flagship and it was attacked by the Polish smaller galleon Wodnik. During the unarmed combat and the shelling of small arms, among others died Captain Foratt. When the battle taken unexpected turn for the Swedes, the Swedish skipper blew up Solen. The ship sunk, but the 46 crew members survived.

 

The history of finding the wreck:

In 20 October 1969, while work on the construction of the North Port of Gdansk, workers found a sailing ship wreck, which was identified with high probability as the "Solen" and marked as W-6. The part of the groundswell survived, but it is devoid of the bow. The wreck lay at a depth of 16 meters, at distance of 3 nautical miles on northeast of the entrance to the port of Gdansk, in position 54°28' north latitude and 18°42' east longitude. During the pioneering in Poland exploration work, Solen was taken up by the Central Maritime Museum in Gdansk.

In 1969 the eleven cannon barrels was brought out from the wreck, from which eight were cast in Sweden (with the Waza’s coat of arms), two were Polish and one Russian. Over the next year more than 6 000 items were recovered. Divers found nine cannons, cannonballs, ceramics, coins and many others utilitarian things. Because the wreck lay at the entrance to the port, on 10 September 1980 Solen was moved to another location in the region of Gdynia Orłowo. Exhibits taken from the Solen are in the Central Maritime Museum in Gdansk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Oliwa

 

Tadeusz

 

[Modeler12]

Interesting. I particularly like the Polish ending:

"the sun went down at noon" 
referring to the scuttling of one of the Swedish ships, the Solen.

 

So, Nirvana, this new wreck was not found 'yesterday', but many years ago.

I assume you found out about this 'yesterday'. Just like me, finding out about it from your post today.

Thanks you.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Modeler12

[Tadeusz43]

Hi,

Other known wrecks of Swedish  ships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_warship_Mars

Mars, also known as Makalös ("peerless; astounding") was a Swedish warship that was built between 1563 and 1564. It was the leading ship of king Eric XIV of Sweden's fleet, and at 48 meters[1] and equipped with 107 guns it was one of the largest warships of the time, even larger than the famous Swedish ship Vasa. In 1564, during the Northern Seven Years' War, the ship caught fire and exploded during the first battle of Öland in the Baltic Sea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronan_(ship)

Kronan, also called Stora Kronan,[1] was a Swedish warship that served as the flagship of the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea in the 1670s. When built, she was one of the largest seagoing vessels in the world. The construction of Kronan lasted from 1668 to 1672 and was delayed by difficulties with financing and conflicts between the shipwright Francis Sheldon and the Swedish admiralty. After four years of service, the ship foundered in rough weather at the Battle of Öland on 1 June 1676: while making a sharp turn under too much sail she capsized, and the gunpowder magazine ignited and blew off most of the bow structure. Kronan sank quickly, taking about 800 men and more than 100 guns with her, along with valuable military equipment, weapons, personal items and large quantities of silver and gold coins.

 

Tadeusz

[Nirvana]

Okay,

Here is a link to the newspaper (in Swedish) along with pictures and video from the found.

Solen

It has also been confirmed from The Swedish Maritime Museum this is the ship.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Nirvana

[Altduck]

Interesting.

 

Was there perhaps one ship "Solen" sunk at Gdansk in 1627, and another of the same name built in 1669 and sunk in 1694?

[Tadeusz43]

Hi,

There is simple explanation of this phenomena.

In many fleets of war there is a tradition of naming new ships names of their predecessors, so was the instance with Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory 1765.

She was the fifth in the history RN ship named "Victory", the former sank in 1744.

 

Tadeusz