Swedish projects

• Kronan. The largest underwater archaeology project in Sweden is the excavation of 126 gun battleship Kronan. Built in 1668, and sunk in battle with 800 men in 1676. Found in 1980 on 27 m depth. There are plans to raise the entire ship side.
• The wreck of Fredricus and Marstrand harbour excavation, Bohusläns Museum, excavated in 1998. The finds are being conserved and analysed. Link.
• The Gyldenlöwe project. Investigating the wreck of a presumed Danish warship sunk off the Swedish west coast around 1680. Contact Björn Åkerlund.
• The Mast Wreck. Unidentified 17 m long wreck in the Bråviken Bay. One mast still standing. Recently found and investigated 1997-98. Dendro dated to first half of 18th century.
• Wreck survey of Lake Vänern. This is Europe's third largest sweetwater lake, now investigated by Vänermuseet.
• The Danish-Lübeck navy off Visby. In 1566, 15-35 warships sank in a storm off Visby, Gotland. 5000 men died. Only minor fragments have since been found in the bottom sand. But the sonogram (see linked page) by Sture Hultquist shows that a survey might be worthwhile.
• Ocean Discovery. This society searches deep-sea wrecks east of Öland Island. Not necessarily archaeology, but wreck documentation anyway.

Other Nordic & Baltic projects

• NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science & Technology, conducts various Norwegian projects that are presented on their excellent web site.  
• Viborg Bay / Svensksund, diving in Russia at the site of the Swedish-Russian battle in the Viborg Bay, a few days before the following battle of Svensksund in 1790. Some finds are already exhibited in the Viborg historical museum, Russia. In 1994 it started as a joint Russian-Swedish project. From 1997 it is a purely Russian project.
• St Michael sank in 1747 off the Finnish coast, loaded with treasure. Investigated by the Maritime Museum of Finland.
• Vrouw Maria. Dutch trading ship sunk in 1771, located in 1999, investigations started in 2000.
• Prince Gustav Adolf. Swedish man-of-war sunk in battle against the Russian navy in 1788. Discovered in 1995 by the Finnish navy at 20-25 m depth near Helsinki. Investigated by the Maritime Museum of Finland. Text in Swedish.
• The Nydam boats, Nydam, Denmark. Sacrificial bog finds from 200-450 AD. In 1863, weapons, two intact ships and remains of a third were discovered in the bog. One boat was salvaged. During 1984-1997 the old site has been excavated again.
• Warships off Rügen. In 1712 a Swedish navy unit landing troops on Rügen, Germany, was attacked by a Danish unit. About 40 ships were reported sunk. The remains have not been located but may be hidden under the bottom sand.

Projects elsewhere in Europe

• Black Sea Projects. In 1997 INA & Kiev University started investigating the Black Sea. This has a great potential considering that the Black Sea is anaerobic below 200 m depth. Where there is no oxygen, wrecks can be preserved for millennia. Any finds on these depths have to be investigated with ROV or submarine. Also, there is evidence suggesting that the Black Sea was flooded sometime 5500-5000 BC. Thus remains of prehistoric settlements may be found underwater. And indeed there was: In 2000 an intact 1500 old ship was found on 300 m depth, and a Stone Age settlement was found on 100 m depth. More info.
• Skerki Bank, Mediterranean. In 1977 the sea bottom between Sicily and Tunisia was investigated for a planned pipeline, by the Italian company Snam Progetti. This was along an old trade route and several shipwrecks were found, some as deep as 500 m. Based on these observations, the shipwreck "density" in this area has been estimated to 6.6/km². In 1989 the ROV Jason located a Roman wreck on ca 750 m depth, that was named Isis. In 1995 three more wrecks were found in the same area. In 1997 the ROV Jason was used together with US navy nuclear sub NR-1 and more wrecks were found again. In 1998 Dr Robert Ballard/The Jason Project participated. References: National Geographic April '98, AM McCann & J Freed: Deep Water Archaeology (Journal of Roman Archaeology supplementary series, 1994). Links: IFE report. Royal BC Museum. Archaeology article. 
• Cap Ognina, Syracuse, Sicily. Remains of approximately 10 wrecks have been excavated since 1995. They are from 5th century BC till 12th century AD. The location is close to Syracuse on 6 m depth. This is a co-project with the DEGUWA. Link. Link.
• ScapaMAP, documenting Scapa Flow, UK
• EU project to protect underwater cultural heritage, 2001-2004
• River Itchen Project, Southampton, UK
• Melkarth shipwreck, Phoenician wreck in the western Mediterranean, perhaps from 500 BC. Located on great depth and video filmed with ROV in 1998 by Greg Stemm, Odyssey Marine Exploration, as part of a commercial deep-sea investigation.
• San Pedro De Alcantara, Portugal. Spanish warship sunk in 1786 loaded with copper and Peruvian prisoners. Investigations by Jean-Yves Blot annually during 1988-1999. The finds are being conserved and analysed. Swedish abstract.
• Excavations in Saône River, France. Beware of bad interface, you must click on the ducks.
• São Julião da Barra, Portugal. Portuguese nao sunk in 1606. Recently excavated by the CNANS.
• The Actium Project. Trying to locate the site of the great battle in 31 BC, when Anthony and Cleopatra lost against Octavian. At least 60 Roman warships, and many more Roman/Egyptian, were sunk. The sea bottom is partly investigated by the University of South Florida and the Greek Ministry of Culture. Several round stones have been found, perhaps ancient catapult projectiles.
• Investigations in Guadalquivir River, Spain. In 138-130 BC, a lighthouse was constructed by the Roman consul Quinto Servilio Caepi. The remains have possibly been located, partially buried by sand. Investigated by Gines Saez Hernández. (correspondence in Spanish)
• Project Rafaello, Sicily, Italy

Projects worldwide

• Port of Alexandria. The ancient port of Alexandria is (1999) investigated by two separate research groups. The French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur is investigating the outside, including the ancient lighthouse of Pharos. The team of Franck Goddio is investigating the interior of the port, trying to locate queen Cleopatra's palace. One large merchant ship from Cleopatra’s time has been located.
• Heraklion & Menouthis are submerged on c 8 m depth in the Basy of Aboukir, near Alexandria. They are discovered and investigated by Franck Goddio. US seismologist Amos Nur believes that the land area sank or was shaken down below sea level during several earthquakes, the last maybe as recent as 10th century AD. Another explanation is that the cities were washed away by a severe Nile flood in 741 or 742 AD.
• The French navy at Aboukir. In 1798 England and France were fighting for the control over Egypt. The French navy was anchored at Aboukir, close to Alexandria. No attack was expected and most of the crew were on land. Meanwhile, the English navy under Lord Nelson managed to reach Aboukir unnoticed and attacked the anchored fleet by surprise. There was no time to load the guns so 40 French ships were sunk and only 4 frigates escaped. The English lost no ship. Underwater archaeologists in the team of Franck Goddio are (1999) investigating the remains that are hidden under the bottom sand. From the 120 gun admiral ship l'Orient the entire copper clad rudder has been found as well as plenty of intact glass and ceramics. Illustration by Axel Nelson. Ref Archaeology Sep/Oct 99. Discovery Online. More info.
• Combined Caesarea project, Israel, project is each summer excavating the Roman harbour, now partly submerged. Ref IJNA 21.2 1992.
• Port of Angra investigations, investigations by Centro de Arqueologia Subaquática dos Açores
• Port Royal, Jamaica. Investigating the city that partly sank into the sea in 1692.
• Wreck of a vessel from Phips' fleet, Quebec, Canada. Excavating a wreck from 1690. It was discovered in 1994 in shallow water. Parts have been excavated during the ice-free seasons from 1995 and on.  
• La Salle Shipwreck Project, Texas Historical Commission, USA. French ship that sank in shallow water in 1686, found in 1995, excavated 1996-97 by draining the wreck area with a cofferdam. Conservation still continues. Photo of bronze gun © Texas Historical Commission.  Link.
• Floating Dock Bermuda project, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA
• Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, sunk in 1864, raised in 2000, South Carolina, USA. Link.
• NOAA Ocean Explorer projects, USA. Including Salvaging USS Monitor, badly corroded, but at least parts are being recovered.
• Santa Fe la Vieja, submerged city investigated by Fundación Albenga, Argentina.
• HMS Pandora. This British warship arrested the mutineers from the Bounty, but sank 1791 on 33 m depth off Australia. The hull parts below the waterline are preserved in the bottom sand. Excavation headed by Queensland Museum.
• Struma. This ship was full of Jewish refugees. In 1942 it was sunk in the Black Sea. There was only one survivor. Attempts are made to locate the shipwreck. Link.
• North Caribbean Research, USA. Activities together with Oxford University MARE. Link.
• Arqueonautas projects. Several projects are described on the page of Arqueonautas SA, working on a commercial basis, selling some artefacts.
• Expedición Animas, Rio de la Plata, wrecks from 18th century. Possibly more treasure hunt than archaeology.
• Esprit de Bougainville. A part of this media-sponsored expedition in 2000 intended to investigate ancient shipwrecks in the Philippines, one of them said to be dated to 500 BC or older. The expedition ship, a Chinese junk, later sank after a collision off Malta in 2001. Hopefully results from the investigations will be reported.
   

Old or terminated projects may be found among Nordic or worldwide wrecks. Except for those above, you may find current projects at museums, societies, academic departments and authorities. You may also contact the various replica projects or try finding fieldwork opportunities. Images on this page © Sture Hultquist, Muzeum Morskie, Texas Historical Commission, Queensland Museum, and others. Page by Per Åkesson, rev aug '02