In Tczew a crate fished out from the wreck of the SS Karlsruhe was opened

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In the morning of 5 November, employees of the Shipwreck Preservation Centre in Tczew opened a wooden box that Baltictech divers had excavated from the wreck of the German steamer SS Karlsruhe during a recently completed expedition.

At the end of the week, the employees of CKWS in Tczew carried out the long-awaited opening of the chest from the wreck of the Karlsruhe. The object was excavated during a September expedition by divers from the Baltictech group.

During the expedition, a representative of the National Maritime Museum has authorised the lifting of one crate from the wreck. The one which was selected by divers from Baltictech GroupIt stood out from the others. It was very solid and gave the impression that it might contain something valuable. A valuable historical monument, it would be an ideal point for the whole Karlsruhe 2021 expedition.

Opening the box

The chest recovered from the wreck was opened by specialists from the NMM in Tczew in the presence of the media and a representative of the Maritime Office. Inside, they probably found a portable repair workshop for precise elements of Kriegsmarine ship equipment.

What we do know so far is that this is a case of a workshop nature. It is unlikely that we are dealing here with elements of military armament. We can see, among other things, some cables, reels, metal elements, there is probably a tow truck. We excavated only a few objects, which will be further examined – – deputy director of the National Museum of Art Marcin Westphal told journalists

What exactly does the box contain? There is no certainty. We will find out in the coming months, when the whole thing will be thoroughly examined by experts. First, it is necessary to clean the objects from the chest and secure them. Once this has been done and the researchers identify the contentsit will be necessary to subject everything to conservation. After leaving the conservation workshop, the monument will enrich the museum exhibition.

I estimated the chance of there being an Amber Chamber inside at 1%. However, there is no other place in the world where the probability would be higher. Our last expedition did not rule out this hypothesis, because it was aimed at taking stock of what we could see. We had no right either to dig or to touch, to open anything or to disturb anything. We must remember that there is a whole mass of cargo under a two-metre layer of silt and there is a secret there that we have not yet been able to uncover – said Tomasz Stachura, the expedition leader.

Karlsruhe expedition 2021

Divers from the Baltictech group have retrieved a crate from the wreck of the German steamer SS Karlsruhe. The ship, which was sailing in convoy, was sunk by Soviet airmen on 13 April 1945. In September 2021, during a 12-day expedition, a team of divers thoroughly examined and collected documentation of the wreck. At the end of the expedition, the divers excavated the chest, which was handed over to the Shipwreck Conservation Centre in Tczew.

Photo: Baltictech