A team of Polish divers has found a ‘treasure’ in the Baltic Sea, inside a ship that sank in the 19th century. According to The Associated Press (AP) news agency, the vessel was ‘loaded’ with historical artefacts, including 100 bottles of champagne.
‘We found a 19th century sailing ship in very good condition, loaded to the brim with champagne, wine, mineral water and porcelain. We saw more than 100 bottles of champagne and baskets of mineral water in clay bottles,’ explained Tomasz Stachura, from the Baltictech diving group, adding that the discovery took place off Sweden, about 37 kilometres south of the island of Oland.
Stachura, who has been a diver ‘for 40 years’, said that ‘it often happens that there are one or two bottles’, but ‘discovering a shipwreck with so much cargo is a first’.
Despite the champagne, the mineral water was the discovery ‘that proved to be the most interesting’, since in the 19th century, ‘mineral water was treated almost like a medicine and only reached royal tables’.
In fact, it was the discovery of the mineral water that made it possible to discover when the ship sank. The divers were able to realise from an engraving on the clay packaging that the bottles were from the German producer Selters.
‘Thanks to the shape of the seal and with the help of historians, we know that our shipment was produced between 1850-1867. Funnily enough, the ceramics factory where the water was bottled also exists, and it's still in use.
The divers have already alerted the Swedish regional authorities about the discovery, but recovering the artefacts will take time. ‘The ship was there for 170 years, so leave it there for another year, and we'll have time to better prepare for the operation,’ explained Stachura.
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