Six new wrecks discovered in the Baltic Sea

During hydrographic surveys conducted in the Baltic Sea by the Estonian Transport Board in 2020, six new and previously unknown wrecks were discovered.

The pandemic situation and the declaration of an emergency in spring, Estonian hydrographers decided to use to map the bottom in their territorial waters and search for wrecks of sunken vessels. In 2020 they managed to survey a total area of 1216 km2 in the Baltic Sea and 47 km2 of Lake Pejpus.

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From the information given to the public by Peeter Valing, head of the hydrographic division of the maritime and water department, we learned that this work has resulted in a total of six new wrecks being found.

One wreck was found in the Gulf of Finland, one in the Väinameri Strait, another near the port of Kuivastu, near the Suur Strait, one south of the island of Viirelaid and two in waters south of the Gulf of Riga.

The vessel found in Kuivastu harbour is probably the Soviet destroyer Serdityi, which was sunk by the Germans in 1941. The others of the wrecks found have not yet been identified at this point and it may be quite difficult to determine their identity, as most of them are quite badly damaged.

Incidentally, it was also reported that as a result of data processing from work carried out in 2019 in the Gulf of Riga, it was possible to locate the aircraft. Divers exploring the designated site reached the wreckage and determined that it was a Soviet Il-2, which was shot down during World War II.

The Estonians also reported that on average each year their work results in around ten new shipwrecks being found and that currently the total number of shipwrecks on the Transport Administration’s inventory stands at 594. Of these, 490 have been found during hydrographic survey work and the rest have been identified from aerial photographs or previous navigational charts.

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