09.03.2010
A dozen previously unknown shipwrecks, some of them believed to be up to 1,000 years old, were found in the Baltic Sea during a probe of the sea bed to prepare for the installation of a large gas pipeline, the Swedish National Heritage Board said yesterday.
"We have managed to identify 12 shipwrecks, and nine of them are considered to be fairly old," said Peter Norman, a senior advisor with the board. "We think many of the ships are from the 17th and 18th centuries and we think some could even be from the Middle Ages," he said, stressing that "this discovery offers enormous culture-historical value."
The wrecks were found during a probe by the Nord Stream consortium that is planning a route for the pipeline from Russia to the European Union.
Source: financialpost.com