Finland
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) is currently involved in two projects in Finland. In these projects the Dutch warship Huis te Warmelo and a still unidentified seventeenth century Dutch fluyt ship are investigated together with various Finnish partners. In the past, the RCE has also been involved in investigations of the Vrouw Maria, a Dutch wooden two-masted merchant ship that sank on 9 October 1771. The Finnish National Board of Antiquities is responsible for this ship and all recovery efforts.
Huis te Warmelo
The ‘Kalbådagrund gunship wreck’ or Huis te Warmelo was found in 2002 by the Finnish Maritime Administration during hydrographical surveys. The wreck lies on the bottom of the Gulf of Finland (Suomenlahti), off the town of Porvoo. The ship sank in 1715 and sits well preserved in an upright position at a depth of around 64 metres. The ship belonged to the West Frisian Admiralty and was built in Medemblik, the Netherlands. A Dutch warship from this era has never before been found in such a good condition. Investigations of the wreck started in 2004 and are still ongoing.
Seventeenth-century Dutch fluyt ship
In 2020, the international diving group Badewanne discovered an almost intact seventeenth-century Dutch fluyt on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. In follow up investigations in 2021 the transom of the wreck was found with an engraving of the date 1636 and an image of a swan. This indicates the ship was built in 1636 and probably carried the name ‘Swan’. Investigations of the history of the wreck are still ongoing and carried out by Badewanne, maritime archaeologists Minna Kolvikko from the Finnish Heritage Agency, Martijn Manders from the RCE and maritime archaeologists Niklas Eriksson from Stockholm University.
