Vrak's researchers research 18th-century ship in Germany

This summer, Vrak's research coordinator Patrik Höglund and project manager Jim Hansson have been in the Rügen area in Germany to investigate a wreck from the early 18th century, together with German, Norwegian and Polish colleagues.

The wreck has been identified thanks to the research of German marine archaeologist Jens Auer, with help from the museum’s open database of warships, Örloggen.

In order to identify the wreck off Rügen, Jens Auer has been able to show that the ship must have sunk in the early 18th century. This was done by dating the timber and objects: including a ship's bell cast in 1706 in Stockholm.

Information about the wreck's dimensions and dating was then in the database Örloggen, which identified the wreck in Rügen as the frigate Postiljon. The ship was 30 meters long and armed with 20 cannons. Using archive material, Jens Auer was then able to describe the sequence of events when Postiljon sank: The ship got stuck in the ice in 1714, was screwed down and then forgotten, probably due to the ongoing Great Northern War, which was at its peak in the area around Rügen and the Swedish fortress city of Stralsund at that time.

The wreck was recently presented in Germany with a large press briefing including, among others, the Minister of Culture for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and representatives of Vrak.

Around Rügen there are several wrecks with connections to Sweden. The area was part of Swedish Pomerania from 1648 to 1814. Many ships for the Swedish navy were built here and large quantities of oak timber were brought in, mainly for the naval base in Karlskrona

Postiljon is now 3D documented and some objects have been salvaged, including a bronze cannon captured by Swedish troops in southern Germany in 1634, i.e. 80 years before the sinking of Postiljon.