WRECKDIVING
The bell tells
It is uncommon to find a ship ’ s bell on old wooden shipwrecks , but in this case , we discovered the bell in the bow area of the wreck . With some difficulty , some lettering and a year could be made out , ‘ Gluksburg ’ and ‘ Anno 1783 ’. Glucksberg is a small town on Germany ’ s Baltic coast , close to the Danish border .
This photo shows the port side of the hull , which is still vertical . The stem has fallen off the bow and now lies on the seabed , along with a number of rigging elements .
God of War
Mars , named after the god of war , was built to embolden Sweden ’ s forces and strike fear into its enemies . She was built for Sweden ’ s King Erik XIV and launched in 1513 . The wreck was located by our friends Richard Lundgren and Frederik Skog of Ocean Discovery , in the summer of 2011 . Together , we then embarked on a joint project to survey the wreck . The side of the hull was the first thing we encountered on reaching the vessel . As Johan Alexandersson shines his light into a gun port , the immense size of this wooden shipwreck becomes clear .
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