Participants of the 14th season of the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and Konstantin Bogdanov’s Underwater Exploration Team (UET) «Voices of the Lost Ships» found an unknown wooden sailing vessel in the area of Seskar Island. It has been tentatively identified as a three-masted English merchant barque of the mid-19th century.
The length of the vessel exceeds 30 m, and its width is about 8 m. Upon inspection, the divers found that the hull and deck were well preserved, but the superstructure and deck structures had been demolished by fishing nets. They hang from the wreckage of the masts; the steering wheel, the pipe and the bricks of the ship’s stove are on the stern. The explorers did not find the rudder of the barque, which may indirectly indicate the circumstances of its sinking.
«The key find that allowed us to establish the probable origin of the sailboat was its bell,» said Konstantin Bogdanov, head of the expedition. «The name 'Standard’ and the year of construction, 1858, are clearly legible on it under water. The most interesting thing is that instead of the home port, the phrase 'Port tack’ is cast on the bell. It is unclear whether this is the owner’s motto or other information. According to open sources, it was possible to find out that there are only two more bells on which the motto was cast. Based on these data, we assume that this is an English merchant barque that was en route to Russia and sank on its way to the port of destination. The exact circumstances of its sinking, history, and route are yet to be determined during further searches. In addition, we plan to photograph the object and build a detailed 3D model of the object, study the documents. Based on these studies, a new documentary about this period of maritime trade in the Baltic Sea will be created.»
Before the expedition, the UET participants showed the results of work on another object, the MO-308 sea hunter, who sank during the Great Patriotic War. The explorers identified the boat in the summer of 2025. Now, for the first time, experts have presented its detailed 3D model, created based on the results of photo and video recordings. It clearly shows the current state of the boat lying at the bottom: the wheelhouse, shell boxes on the deck, and the stern, which was smashed by the explosion, have been preserved. These works will help preserve the historical memory of the object and pass it on to future generations.
The 3D model of the MO-308. Video: screenshot from the virtual museum "A Bow to the Ships of the Great Victory"
In the near future, a memorial event dedicated to the memory of the crew is planned to be held at the place of the sinking of the sea hunter. It will be the final expedition of this season for the divers.
«The Gulf of Finland is the site of the largest naval operations of the Baltic Fleet of the 20th century, ” said Natalya Belyakova, Director of the Expeditionary and Tourism Development Department of the RGS. "The discovery and identification of each vessel is a tribute to the memory of thousands of dead sailors, Red Navy sailors, and civilians. With the help of innovative technologies, photogrammetry, we create virtual copies of objects in order to preserve the true course of history in an undistorted format. Thanks to cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, the RGS is working on the fairway of the Gulf of Finland, which is blocked for the duration of the survey. This provides new opportunities for our research."
The «Voices of the Lost Ships» expedition is working in the waters of the Gulf of Finland to search for, identify, and preserve the historical heritage associated with the maritime history of Russia. Digital copies of the found objects are available on the UET website. The expedition is supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation.
Maria Buldakova