PRESS RELEASE Mariehamn, August 18, 2011
Further investigations of the champagne wreck
In the summer 2010 a group of divers found unique champagne bottles from a shipwreck in the Åland archipelago. After the salvage operations last summer the investigations are now continued with complementing marine archaeological research. The aim is to identify the ship’s origin and find out details concerning the wreckage.
Åland Government’s Museum Office will conduct the archaeological research of the wreck in co-operation with the diving company A2 Subsea Exploration. The investigations begin on August 22 and they are estimated to take two weeks.
− It will be exciting to see if we are able to identify the wreck’s origin. In this year’s investigations we aim to record the scientific information from the wreck through careful archaeological documentation and measurements, says Jenni Lucenius, archaeologist and coordinator for the marine archaeological research project at Åland Museum.
The name of the ship and its final destination are not known. The artefacts found from the wreck, them including the champagne bottles, indicate that the ship can be dated to the first half of the 19th century. The current salvage operations will focus on artefacts that will be able to reveal something about the ship’s origins.
− We know that the cargo contained some luxury products such as champagne and delicacies, for example grapes. The object of our research is to find out whether the remaining cargo contains some hints of the ship’s identity, home port and destination, says Jenni Lucenius.
The research will also include sediment analysis and dendrological analysis.
For further information, please contact archaeologist Jenni Lucenius at Åland Government: +358 (0)18 25442 or +358 (0)457 350 0000, jenni.lucenius@regeringen.ax.
Together with the ongoing further investigations the media will be offered the opportunity to visit the shipwreck site. The excursion takes place on Thursday, September 1, departure at 9.30 from the Eastern Harbour in Mariehamn. The date for the excursion is preliminary and the excursion is carried out if the weather and other conditions permit. Accreditations by August 30 to Björn Häggblom, Head of Communications at Åland Government: +358 (0)18 25143 or +358 (0)50 547 0951, bjorn.haggblom@regeringen.ax.