Global General
12 centuries-old shipwrecks found in Baltic Sea
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-10 02:16
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 In this image released by Nord Stream on Tuesday March 9, 2010 shows the figurehead on a sailing ship from the second half of the 19th century seen in the waters of the Baltic Sea. [Agencies] |
"The content can tell us a lot about everyday life during that time," Norman said.
It's unclear whether any of them will be salvaged but the board said it hopes they will be explored by divers - though Norman added many of them are at a depth that would require very advanced and costly diving operations.
The Nord Stream consortium, which plans to start construction in April, has promised to make sure its activities don't damage the wrecks. The area where they were found is in Sweden's economic zone, but not in the planned route of the pipeline, Leifland Holmstrom said.
The Nord Stream project, in which Russia's OAO Gazprom holds a 51 percent stake, has uncovered scores of other objects during seabed searches of the route, including about 80 sea mines and a washing machine, she said.
Last year, parts of a 300-year-old ship were salvaged from Germany's Bay of Greifswald to clear a path for the pipeline, which expects to carry some 1.9 trillion cubic feet (55 billion cubic meters) of natural gas a year.
Sweden's most famous maritime discovery, the royal warship Vasa, is housed in a popular museum in Stockholm where visitors can admire the ship's details, down to the flashing teeth of the carved lions that adorn its elaborate exterior. The Vasa was raised from the Stockholm harbor in 1961, 333 years after it sank on its maiden voyage.
