The wreck that the team had found turned out to be the luxury yacht s/s Astrid, which on its journey between Stockholm and Finnish Raumo was sunk by the German submarine U22 on 11 November 1916. During the First World War, the Germans sank several ships in the area as they had set up a trade blockade to stop the import of luxury products to Russia. And sure enough, Stefan and his team found a number of wooden crates in the wreck's cargo hold which they pulled up to the ship.
When they prised open the lock on the wooden crates they found 21 bottles of wine. “This was even better as this was not even the wreck we had initially been looking for”, says Stefan. Some of the bottles were analysed in London and there it was found that they were 100-year-old bottles containing Madeira and port wine. Of the 21 bottles that were retrieved, 7 turned out to be drinkable and had also maintained their high quality. In due time, the bottles will be put up for auction with one bottle expected to fetch around SEK150,000 to 200,000.
“Astrid was one of my coolest discoveries”, says Stefan. We usually find between three and five wrecks every year, but she was special not just because of the bottles we found but also because the wreck was still intact. The masts were still in place and the figurehead... Well, it was the most beautiful one I've seen.
Text: Max Sihvonen
Photo: Stefan Hogeborn