News-Info-Alerts

Re: Ship Missing 110 Years, Discovered in Baltic

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 26, 2003

"Estonians Find Armored Russian Ship That Sank in Baltic Sea in 1893

The Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - A 19th century Russian vessel that sank in the Baltic Sea with 177 sailors aboard has been discovered off the Finnish coast, Estonian researchers said.

The Russalka - Russian for mermaid - belonged to the czarist fleet and sank in 1893. It was found 15 miles from Helsinki, researchers told the Estonian daily Postimees.

"We can say with 100 percent certainty that the shipwreck we found is the Russalka," the newspaper quoted captain Vello Mass as saying in Friday's edition.

Built in 1868, the Russalka was one of the czarist navy's first so-called "ironclads" - a ship covered in iron sheeting. One of its last ports of call before it sank was Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and part of the czarist empire at the time.

The wreckage was found at about 246 feet below the surface, Mass told Postimees.

Estonian and Finnish researchers spent more than a month trying to locate the wreck. Earlier expeditions had failed to find it.

Mass said the team would notify Russian authorities about the discovery before deciding what to do next.

A 1902 Estonian monument to the Russalka, a bronze angel holding a crucifix and tilting it toward the ship's watery grave, is a popular tourist sight in Tallinn. Many Estonian newlyweds leave bouquets at its granite base to honor the sailors who died."