Recently discovered wrecks could be first of many lying at bottom of frozen Baltic Sea

When it comes to diving beneath the surface of the ocean, most scuba divers hope that the surface is not solidified with a layer of ice but the Baltic Sea seems to be home to a number of sunken shipwrecks and divers are braving the freezing temperatures to go scuba diving and search for them.

Over the last ten years, enthusiastic divers have done wreck diving excursions in search of sunken ships and during a recent trip, two Swedish divers located two of the most famous ships to have ever sunk in the waters off the coast of Sweden.

In November 2011, the Swedish battleships, Mars and Svärdet, were found under the ice and local divers and historians are hoping that once spring arrives to the east coast of Sweden, even more shipwrecks will be discovered.

The Maritime Museum in Sweden estimates that there are over 100,000 wrecks in the Baltic Sea and so far, only 20,000 have been found.

Image by : diveimage, on Flickr.

The head of the archaeology department at the museum, Andreas Olsson, believes that more wrecks are being discovered during scuba diving trips because the divers are highly skilled and they are using more advanced equipment.

"We have more diving groups with competence to dive in deeper waters," he explained. "We also have better equipment and it is cheaper."

The Baltic Sea is also quite shallow which makes it easier for divers to get to the sea bed during their scuba diving adventures.

"The average depth is only 60 meters compared to 900 meters in the Mediterranean," commented Richard Lundgren, a nautical-history enthusiast, professional diver and the project leader for the company Ocean Discovery.

Ocean Discovery located the Mars—a Swedish warship that was sunk in 1564 by the Danes close to the Baltic island of Oland.
The ship was one of the biggest ships at the time and despite the Baltic Sea being one of the coldest scuba diving destinations, Lundgren had been searching for the sunken vessel for 20 years.

During the same month, the wreck of Svärdet was found by Deep Sea Productions during a wreck diving excursion. The giant warship had sunk during a battle with a Dutch-Danish fleet in 1676 and divers had been searching for the wreck for decades.

Image by : melissa.fiene, on Flickr.

Lundgren explained. "The discovery of the Mars and the Svärdet depended on the recent developments in technology. To locate and discover ancient shipwrecks or lost cargoes we use side-scan sonars—advanced echo sounders that are towed behind the research vessel."

He added that it is unlikely that the Mars wreck will become a site that diving enthusiasts or photographers can visit during scuba diving holidays because the country intends to protect the wreck and access will only be allowed for scientific research.