15th-Century “Sea Monster” Lifted from Baltic Sea

FLEMINGSBERG, SWEDEN—The figurehead of a fifteenth-century warship that belonged to Denmark’s King Hans has been lifted from the Baltic Sea by a team from Blekinge Museum and Södertörn University. The creature, carved at the end of an 11-foot-long beam, has lion ears and a crocodile-like mouth holding what appears to be a person. “No similar item from the fifteenth century has ever been found anywhere in the world,” Marcus Sandekjer, head of the Blekinge Museum, told Discovery News. The ship, named Gribshunden, or “Grip Dog,” was anchored in the Swedish town of Ronneby when it sank after a fire in 1495. To read more about the archaeology of ships, go to "History's 10 Greatest Wrecks."