Pipeline bed littered with dozens of shipwrecks

STOCKHOLM – The German-Russian natural gas pipeline consortium Nord Stream had its proposed Baltic Sea pipeline route surveyed for archeological obstacles and discovered dozens of shipwrecks along the 1,200 kilometre underwater building site, east of the Swedish Gotland Isle. It is not yet known if the wrecks will be raised. The Swedish heritage council estimates that most of the wrecks date from the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, although one wreck could be 800 years old. The Baltic Sea, which is littered with many thousands of wrecks, once was a major trading destination for Dutch merchants and who lost numerous ships in that region. The wrecks are generally well-preserved because of the absence of microcosms which in other seas adds to the decay of wrecks. In the past, archeologists and maritime historians were able to piece together from various records the history of Dutch wreck Vrouwe Maria.