Vrak i Östersjön

One of the most exciting unexplored areas on the planet is the Baltic Sea. It is the home of the remains of as many as 100,000 wrecks from more than one thousand years of seafaring and war.

The Baltic Sea is unique on account of its low salinity gradient and the absence of ‘shipworms’ (bivalve molluscs), which have meant that even old wooden objects have survived. They are like frozen moments of dramatic history, that only now can be shown as they really are, thanks to new instruments for mapping the sea floor, modern diving techniques and advanced photography. The floor of the Baltic Sea is only partly charted, but at the present time there is intensive activity to map its environment and the traces of human activity that lie hidden in the depths. Sonar equipment and sophisticated echo sounding can nowadays identify and reproduce images of very small objects on the sea bed. Diving with gas mixes and rebreathers makes it possible to dive down to wrecks lying at depths of almost 100 metres, and photograph them with light-sensitive underwater cameras.

The book also contains electronic reproductions of entire wrecks and completely unique photographic material from diving expeditions to ships that have previously been inaccessible. The pictures have never been shown or published before, and are presented here for the very first time.

There are free-standing descriptions of some of the most dramatic historic events that have taken place in the Baltic Sea, for example the sinking of German refugee ships at the end of the Second World War – the worst civilian marine catastrophe with as many as twenty thousand lives lost.

Björn Hagberg is a marine archaeologist and the author of a book about a classic Swedish military plane crash – a DC-3 – in the Baltic. The underwater photos are taken by photographer and diver Jonas Dahm. Diver and historian Carl Douglas, one of the men who found the wreck of the DC-3, has also contributed to the book.

Rights sold to:
Nemo, Finland