STOCKHOLM, Oct 23 — Bubbles rise through the murky green water as divers tenderly explore a rare 15th-century shipwreck off Stockholm’s coast, believed to be the oldest warship found off Sweden.
“It’s a very big ship, it was around 40-45 metres when it sailed probably,” project leader and marine archaeologist Hakan Altrock from Sweden’s Museum of Wrecks said, overseeing the dives down to the skeletal remains of what is known as Vrak 5, or Shipwreck 5, on a cool October day.
Located off Haringe Castle south of Stockholm, the vessel is thought to be the oldest warship found off Sweden or Denmark, which were joined in a union with Norway in the 15th century.
First discovered in the late 1800s, the shipwreck is one of five lying on the seabed in the Landfjarden sound, most of which have been dated to the 1600s and 1700s.
