"Ghosts from the depths of the Baltic. Steuben, Gustloff, Goya"

For all those who have not yet had the opportunity to reach for the book by Marcin Jamkowski “Duchy z głębin Bałtyku”, I advise to catch up as soon as possible. The main characters are the ships “Wilhelm Gustloff”, “Steuben” and “Goya”.

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Operation Hannibal was intended to evacuate Third Reich citizens from the Prussian territories occupied by the advancing Red Army. Although statistically the whole undertaking was considered a great success, we cannot forget that during the evacuation on the three ships mentioned above, over twenty thousand people lost their lives! Today, hardly anyone in the diving world does not know the names of the ships described. But do just as many people know their history?

The whole story centres around a two-week expedition organised by National Geographic, to the wreck of the “Steuben”, which was discovered by sailors of the Polish Navy Hydrographic Office in 2004.

On the pages of “Ghosts”, apart from the description of the disasters themselves, we can also find a lot of interesting information about the beautiful German ships, from the moment they were built. We also learn about the fates of the passengers, and are introduced to the profiles of both the patrons of the sunken liners – Gustloff, and those who sent them to the bottom – Captain Marinesko.

While there is little text on the diving itself, the history of the ships over the years, as well as the historical background, is presented to the reader in detail. Woven into all this are the tragic fates of those who found refuge on board the ill-fated liners.

We will certainly not get bored while reading. The book draws us in page after page, painting an interesting picture in the centre of which is the “big three” Baltic shipwrecks.

Source: Divers24