More Than 100 Bottles of Champagne Discovered at Site of 19th Century Shipwreck
03:51 GMT 26.07.2024 (Updated: 07:29 GMT 26.07.2024)
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The team has found a number of wrecks in the Baltic Sea, but it was rare to discover a site with such a boozy bounty.
A group of divers working to comb through the Baltic Sea for shipwrecks have made a significant discovery about 20 nautical miles south of the Swedish island of Öland. The team of divers discovered a 19th century sailing ship loaded with a large stock of champagne, wine, mineral water and porcelain.
Tomasz Stachura, the leader of the Polish diving group Baltictech, said the ship was in “very good condition” and was “brimming with historical treasures, including crates of champagne, baskets of mineral water and porcelain.”
In a remarkable find, a team of divers from the Polish diving group Baltitech has discovered a 19th Century shipwreck in the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Sweden. https://t.co/6fxpoFKuEN pic.twitter.com/pxD2OhpMIw
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Stachura said the divers did not initially expect the wreck to be “anything significant” and added that the team “even hesitated for a moment whether to dive at all.”
The Balitctech team has found “numerous wrecks” in the Baltic Sea, but it was rare for them to discover a site with such a boozy bounty.
More than 100 bottles of champagne were discovered – however, it is not the oldest champagne found in a Baltic shipwreck. In 2010, diving instructor Christian Ekstrom and his team found 30 or more bottles on a ship near the Aland Islands. The bottles are thought to date back to the 1780s, and were most likely on route to Russia.
"It tasted fantastic," said Ekstrom. "It was a very sweet champagne, with a tobacco taste and oak."
A team of divers has discovered a massive haul of champagne and wine on a shipwreck on the floor of the Baltic Sea. On a recent dive trip off the coast of Sweden, the Polish diving group BaltiTech spotted what looked like an https://t.co/1MI3Xq9rlA
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The divers notified Swedish regional authorities about their discovery, but probably won’t be able to open the champagne just yet. Several formalities will have to be settled before they can crack open the loot.
However, Stachura said he is not intimidated over the wait.
“It had been lying there for 170 years, so let it lie there for one more year, and we will have time to better prepare for the operation,” he said.
24 July 2024, 04:03 GMT
