HELSINKI, FINLAND—Yle News reports that divers have been investigating a shipwreck in the shallow waters close to the Suomenlinna fortress area of Helsinki, where six fortifications were built on eight islands in the eighteenth century. Preliminary study of the wooden vessel suggests that it measured about 108 feet long, was built from timbers grown on the northern coastline of the Baltic Sea, and sank around 1780. Large stones found in the hull indicate that the ship may have been sunk deliberately. “As we uncover more details about the wreck’s age and structure, we will begin to sift through archival sources to identify what ship this might have originally been,” said maritime archaeologist Minna Koivikko of the Finnish Heritage Agency. “We are also trying to figure out why on earth the wreck ended up in such shallow waters,” she added. To read about an archaeoacoustic study of Devil’s Church cave, go to “Around the World: Finland.”
