SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND—The Independent reports that the wreckage of a Swedish or Danish merchant vessel, built sometime between A.D. 1490 and 1540, has been found under nearly 400 feet of water in the Baltic Sea. According to an international team of scientists led by maritime archaeologist Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz, the well-preserved ship could help scholars understand the construction of other European vessels dating to the Age of Discovery because the ship’s hull is intact from the keel to the top deck. Although the ship's aft-castle had been destroyed, all of her masts and some of her rigging are still in place. The ship’s guns are in the “ready to fire” positions, Pacheco-Ruiz added, which suggests the vessel may have been sunk in a previously unknown naval battle, during either Sweden’s war of independence with Denmark (1521–1523) or the Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557). “It’s almost like it sank yesterday,” Pacheco-Ruiz said. “It’s a truly astonishing sight.” To read about the recent discovery of a sixteenth-century shipwreck in the North Sea, go to "Spring Boards."
