Interview with Wojciech Jechna - participant of Baltictech Expedition

We present you an interview with Wojciech Jechna, the owner of a well-known diver transport unit – “Litoral”technical diver and one of the conference organisers Baltictech. In an interview with Adam Sieczkowski, Wojtek talked about the latest find which he and a group of friends made in Baltic waters as part of the Baltictech Expeditions.

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Photo gallery by Tomasz Stachura from exploratory dive on M/V Akademik Karpinsky

Adam Sieczkowski: Hello Wojtek, how do you feel after your last trip?

Wojciech Jechna: Hi, quite well, thank you. We came back very satisfied.

A: So you managed to locate something interesting underwater?

W: Yes, we found a few wrecks on the sites we checked.

A: Where did you get your bearings for the locations you checked?

W: A fisherman friend of ours let us know that there were some snags in the positions, so there must be something on the bottom. In addition, one of the wrecks, the deepest at 80m, was marked on the map as a state wreck. So it was worth checking what interesting lies there.

A: Has anyone dived on them before?

W: After the condition of the vessels we found at the bottom, after the way the wrecks were preserved, I think that no one had dived on them before us. This hypothesis was also supported by all the objects we found and the complete equipment of the wrecks. The one at 80m is in such a state as if it had just sunk. It has everything from a bell to telegraphs. It’s strange that there are no steering wheels, but that can only prove the tragedy that happened there. Everything could have broken off on impact with the bottom.

A: What made you check these items? Were they the most reliable?

W: They were the most interesting. We chose them taking into account gas, weather, departure and return times. Everything was in the 12h range.

A: Did you survey a particular area? How many items did you have to check?

W: In general we have about 30-40 locations in this area. We chose these 3 at random. It was done on the basis of: “we sail here and then here and here”. There was about 5mil between the positions, so after checking the first one, where it was supposed to be a fishing boat, and an unspecified old wooden patrol craft came out. From there we had 5-6 positions in each direction.

A: You mentioned that the other regions were out of your reach because of the gases, will you give more details?

W: Yes, it was 6-8 positions, below 80m. To these depths we would have already had to change gas mixtures, which we were not prepared for.

A: Tell us how many people were involved and who made up the expedition?

W: It was 10 people. The core were the Baltictech organisers and a bunch of our friends.

A: Okay, in that case, give us an idea of what exactly you found?

W: The first item, as I said before, was supposed to be a fishing boat, but as I mentioned, in my opinion it is an old patrol craft. This is evidenced by the construction of the hull – slender and long. It is heavily axed and lies at a depth of 56-60m. The next location was wrong, because of the running time, we did not spend too much energy on it and switched to the next position. There we found something wooden, difficult to identify due to the strong current, lots of nets and poor visibility. Eventually we reached a spot that turned out to be a shot in the 10, a wreck at 80m. The fact that it sticks out about 10-16m above the bottom is what made us dive there the most. Second, of course, was curiosity, because it was the above-mentioned state location, that is, already marked on the maps. It must have been marked by some office or hydrographic station. The first pair that went under the water came back after 2 hours. The guys came out with a big cheer, raising their hands and shouting that there was a wreck! We took them out on deck and started asking them for details. It turned out that we had found a wreck the size of the Sołdek! The excitement reached its peak. Of course, we decided to stay here and dive further. So we had to curb the urge to discover more sites that was in us. We decided by vote that we would stay and try to identify the wreck, which we eventually did. We made documentation in the form of photographsWe have also taken some photographs, films and drawings.

A: Did you do any measurements on the wreck?

W: No, there was no time for that. We concentrated on getting the name read. From the side we did not succeed, fortunately one of the group found the inscription on the stern. She discovered the first letter and automatically there was a desire to discover more, so that became the goal of our expedition. The name of the ship is composed of 17 letters, from which we came out with the name “Karpinsky dorm”. At 80m, it is a bit of work to uncover such a string where 1 letter is about 70cm long. It was also a matter of not destroying the inscription.

A: How many dive groups have you formed?

W: We formed 3 dive groups of 2 divers each, which did a total of 18 dives.

A: What were the logistics of your trip, did it require a lot of equipment, did you dive on open circuits?

W: In our group there were 3 rebreathers, so it made the task much easier, moreover, Łukasz Piórewicz took care of the gas logistics.

A: So you had equipment prepared on the boat?

W: We had a lot of twinsets, prepared for deep dives, but we also had facilities for shallow dives, so we were well prepared.

A: What are the further prospects regarding these finds?

W: Everything will be reported to the Maritime Office in Gdynia, to Hydrography, to the Polish Maritime Museum, apart from that, we reported the find to our colleague from the ship IMOR. Another thing is whether this wreck will be made available for divers or not. But this is already a question of all the paperwork in the offices.

A: Do you plan to explore this wreck further or conduct other expeditions?

W: There are plans for another trip, to deep locations, also in the middle of the Baltic, so below 80m. We would very much like to continue our search, but what will come out of it? Only Neptune knows, because you know what the weather is like in our sea.

A: How do you assess the chances that the wreck will be made available?

W: You know, it’s a deep wreck, so there are not many people who can dive there. We would really like it to be open to the public, because that always increases the number of dive sites.

A: Surely the Central Maritime Museum and the Maritime Office will have the deciding vote?

In: 1st Conservation of Monuments.

A: Is there a possibility that, like the Gustloff, Goya and Steuben wreck will be recognised as a grave?

W: A tragedy certainly played out there, but we didn’t find human remains, so most likely not, but that’s no longer for us to decide.

A: Thank you very much for the interview.

W: Thank you and kind regards.

Source: Divers24