News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Baltic bubbly
Dublin ’ s drone discovery
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Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
PHOTO : TOMASZ STACHURA / BALTICTECH
Baltic bubbly
A 19th-Century wreck packed with crates of unopened Champagne has been found in the depths of the Baltic Sea . The longforgotten vessel was brimming with fizz , according to the team of Polish divers who made the discovery off the coast of Sweden . “ The whole wreck is loaded to the brim with crates of Champagne , mineral water , and porcelain ,” Tomasz Stachura , the leader of the Baltictech diving team that found the wreck , said in a press release . “ I have been diving for
40 years , and it often happens that there is one bottle or two … but to discover a wreck with so much cargo , it ’ s a first for me .” The find was largely a coincidence , he said , as the divers have been combing the seabed for years in search of shipwrecks .
PHOTO : NIGEL MOTYER
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Dublin ’ s drone discovery
Irish underwater photographer Nigel Motyer has helped to discover four unknown historical wrecks – without even getting wet . It all stems from his drone flights over the sandy coastline north of Dublin , where he captured aerial footage of what is believed to be a 19th Century fishing vessel in the tidal shallows . The skeletal remains had become visible due to the shifting sands along Portmarnock strand , a 4km stretch of beach . For the marine archaeologists at Ireland ’ s National Monuments Service ( NMS ), the excitement lies in the subsequent discovery of three other wrecks in the area . “ Some of these vessels were going to exotic places . It ’ s the bravery of these people going out into really what was a world that was unknown to them ,” said NMS senior archaeologist Karl Brady who is heading up this latest investigation .