Low water levels in the Vistula exposed the wreck of a wooden boat from the 16th century

While walking along the Vistula River, a resident of Toruń noticed elements sticking out of the water that he recognized as the wreck of a wooden boat and notified specialists. On August 23, while strolling by the river near the J. Pilsudski road bridge, on the side of the Old Town Complex, archaeologist Michal Grabowski

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: September 6, 2022 - 09:00

Updated: July 23, 2023 - 01:15

Low water levels in the Vistula exposed the wreck of a wooden boat from the 16th century

While walking along the Vistula River, a resident of Toruń noticed elements sticking out of the water that he recognized as the wreck of a wooden boat and notified specialists.

-- Advertisement --

On August 23, while strolling by the river near the J. Pilsudski road bridge, on the side of the Old Town Complex, archaeologist Michal Grabowski noticed wooden elements sticking out of the water, which he recognized as a fragment of a wreck. The Torun resident informed the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Regional Monument Conservator about his find.

Discovery of boat relics near the bank of the Vistula River in Toruń

On August 23, 2022, a resident of Toruń, Mr. Michal Grabowski,…

Posted by Provincial Office for Monument Protection in Toruń on Thursday, August 25, 2022

The next day, employees of the WUOZ in Toruń and specialists from the IA UMK archaeology department came to the site. Underwater archaeologists performed a visual inspection of the potential site and confirmed earlier assumptions. It turned out that the low water level in the Vistula did indeed expose the wreck of a wooden boat from several centuries ago.

Wreck of a wooden boat

In addition to identifying the site, archaeologists also conducted a preliminary inventory and excavated three items. Preliminary findings indicate that the wreck found is probably a flat-bottomed boat made of oak from around the 16th century.

The elements of the boat were joined together with wooden pegs (without the use of metal elements), which is a characteristic boatbuilding technique for the time for which the boat was initially disbursed. The fragments of the boat have been transported to the IA of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, where they will undergo further specialized examination (including by dendrochronological method) and necessary conservation – We read on the WUOZ website in Toruń.

The wreck of a wooden boat from Toruń is another case where low water levels reveal an interesting piece of history. In past months, we have already reported on World War II wrecks that surfaced as a result of the drought. First, In Italy, the Po River has exposed the wreck of a German barge, and then A similar situation happened in the Danube On the Serbian-Romanian border.

Photo: Provincial Office for Monument Protection in Torun

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.