Russia and Finland agree on recovery of Vrouw Maria

On October 9, 1771, a Dutch ship Vrouw Maria sank in the Baltic Sea, near the banks of south-western Finland. The ship's cargo included, among other things, works of art bought by the empress Catherine the Great in Amsterdam: silverware, etchings, paintings, including some works by Rembrandt. The paintings were packed into soldered waterproof lead containers and they may still be intact. In 1771, Finland was a part of Sweden, and Russia attempted to reach an agreement with the Swedish authorities and to recover the lost treasures, but the talks failed.

In 1999, the ship was found by Finnish explorers. For some time the discoverers attempted to get the permission from the government of Finland to recover at least something, but the permission was not granted and the cargo was proclaimed the property of Finland.

However, due to the insufficient financing, the Finnish government did not start the salvage works at the site of the wreck. Recently, Russian Ministry of Culture together with Swedish partners offered to launch the joint operation to rescue the ship's cargo, since the hull, still almost intact by now, is slowly falling apart and the treasures may be lost.

Today, the Finnish News Agency STT has reported that "Finland and Russia have reached an agreement on the lifting and restoration of the Vrouw Maria" and adds that the proposal includes a plan to turn the ship into a floating museum, which will sail between the ports of the Baltic sea.

Russian newspaper Noviye Izvestiya has a somewhat longer story, but it's in Russian.

Read more on Vrouw Maria:

The Vrouw Maria of 1771 – An example of documentary research

Wreck of the Vrouw Maria

Wikipedia: Vrouw Maria

Video made by the divers who found Vrouw Maria

Sunken ships in the Baltic sea

In 2002, a group of Russian archaeologists launched a project called Secrets of Sunken Ships (Russian version: Тайны затонувших кораблей). They write:

Today our aim is the search, exploration, fixation and state registration of the whole complex of the objects reflecting the history of Northern Europe for minimum 1,400 years. But it is possible that in course of the operations and appearance of more and more discoveries our investigations will turn into the largest exposition and research project in the sphere of history which is capable of providing the scientists and society with a huge volume of new information.

Now, the web-site features a brief review of the history of Russian presence on the Baltic Sea, description of the programs of the project, catalogue and map of identified objects (buildings, necropoles, stone labyrinthes, bombs, tanks, airplanes and, of course, ships and boats). Russian version has also a video-archive, list of national and international laws on the underwater explorations, list of known and still not rescued treasures and some other sections which will eventually appear in the English version, too.

In this year, the expedition of the project found 9 ships in the Gulf of Finland. Among the most interesting finds are a Dutch XVIII century cargo ship, a Finnish patrol ship, sunken in 1944 and, the best of all, Russian 20 cannon sloop-of-war Svir', sistership of the famous Mirny, a ship of the famous expedition of Bellinsgauzen and Lazarev, the discoverers of the Antarctica. Svir' sank in autumn 1824, when she went home from topographical works in the Gulf of Finland. Sudden storm threw the ship onto the stones. The crew was rescued, but what happened to the ship remained unknown until this year.