STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—The Local Sweden reports that marine archaeologists from the Sjöhistoriska Museet (Maritime Museum) think they have discovered the wreckage of the Blekinge, a historically significant warship that sank off the coast of southern Sweden in 1713. The Blekinge is known to have been about 150 feet long, and it carried between 68 and 70 cannons. “It’s the first ship that was built in Karlskrona, and was launched in 1682. It participated in, among other things, King Karl XII’s sea assault against Denmark in 1700,” said Jim Hansson of the Swedish National Maritime Museums. Hansson thinks the ship may have been sunk deliberately, and used as a cannon barge to defend the city of Karlskrona during King Karl XII’s invasion of Russia. The shipwreck is buried under layers of sediment, and was probably damaged during the construction of a stone pier at the Karlskrona shipyard. For more, go to “History's 10 Greatest Wrecks...”
