Centic Marin AB - peter lindberg sollentuna fartygsbesiktningar fartyg besiktning reparationer fartygsreparationer undervattensbesiktningar dykeri dykning, bryggor brygga kajer kaj furusunds sjöentreprenad marin marina projekt vrak dykning dykeri undervatten yrkesdykare yrkesdykning anläggningsdykning fartygsbesiktningar fartygsinspektioner fartygsreparation bryggor kajer sjötransporter kabelspolning kabelgravar kabelschaktning pump spolutrustning motorpump båt propeller skepp wreck treasure undervattensfilm


Wreck projects
We have several ongoing wreck-/treasure projects. Please contact us for further information if you are interested to participate in any way. We can also offer you help with your own projects.
Down below you can read about the famous “Jönköping project” in English. You can order the book “Champagnevraket Jönköping, historien om en obetydlig liten skuta” (“The champgne wreck, the story about an uncignificant little ship”) by sending an e-mail. Unfortunately the book can only be bought in a Swedish version, yet!
Jönköping This is the story of the two masted schooner Jönköping – why it sank, its discovery, the salvage and its unique cargo.
History - Built in 1896 Jönköping was built at Sjötorp's shipyard in 1896. She was built as a schooner 20.5 metres long and 6.67 metres wide and equipped with an 18 hp oil engine. She had several different owners before she came to Gävle in 1916 where she immediately began to ply between Gävle in Sweden and Rauma in Finland. She was probably used mostly for carrying contraband, a very lucrative business during the First World War.
The last trip On the 26 October 1916 Jönköping was loaded and ready to make her tenth voyage to Rauma that year. The crew consisted of the captain, E B Eriksson, who was also one of the owners, and four others. When Jönköping left Gävle her cargo included iron goods such as nuts, bar iron and h-hooks , but the main part of the cargo consisted of cognac, wine and champagne for the Russian tsar: 50 cases of champagne, 17 barrels of wine and 67 barrels of cognac. The weight of the cargo was 96 tons, of which 60.5 tons was wine and spirits.
Bad weather After just a few hours, however, the voyage was interrupted by bad weather that forced Jönköping to drop anchor and lie in the roads for a few days. Her subsequent failure to return to Gävle on time ironically started a rumour that a German U-boat had sunk her, a rumour that would soon turn out to be prophetic. By 2 November the weather had improved considerably and the captain and his crew continued their voyage to Rauma.
U-22 Early in the morning of 3 November 1916 the German submarine U-22 was lying 12 nautical miles south-west of Rauma. The day before, Commander Bruno Hoppe and his crew had been very successful in sinking two Swedish ships. Now Hoppe had decided to wait in the channel to Rauma to control passing ships for contraband. The sun had not yet risen but the lookout could see about 8 nautical miles through the light dawn mist. At 05.00 he suddenly heard a very faint sound. It was the sound of an engine. The commander was called up to the lookout and he decided immediately that they should investigate. U-22 left her position and went towards the sound that came from the west.
An islet in the fog The night had been calm and peaceful for Jönköping. They had completed their voyage over the Gulf of Bothnia without any problems. Because of the twilight and the mist they could not see the coast of Finland yet. They were cruising off Rauma, waiting for daylight. Suddenly they spotted an islet and, thinking they had came too close to land, turned Jönköping towards open water again. They soon became aware, however, that the islet was not what it seemed - it was the German submarine!
No way out Commander Hoppe ordered E B Eriksson to stop the engine and board the submarine to show the ship's papers and declare her cargo. Hoppe soon became aware that the cargo contained contraband. He told Eriksson that the ship had to be sunk. Eriksson tried every possible way to save his ship. He suggested that he should throw the cargo overboard, he even offered to sail the cargo to the nearest German harbour. Eriksson would do anything to save his ship. Hoppe, however, had already made up his mind: since this was Jönköping's tenth voyage this year transporting contraband, Hoppe told Eriksson that enough was enough - Jönköping had to be sunk.
Some bottles were saved Two crewmen from U-22 rowed over to Jönköping with two explosive charges. They put one in the bow and the other in the engine room. While they were doing this a steamer approached from the south. Hoppe ordered the crew of Jönköping and his own two men who were on board Jönköping to row over to the submarine immediately. Hoppe wanted to catch up with the steamer, which by this time had worked out what was going on and was trying to escape. In great haste the two crewmen from U-22 took as many bottles of champagne as they could before they left Jönköping. Except for the few bottles they could take in their arms the whole cargo went down with the ship.
Fifteen minutes later Commander Hoppe also managed to stop the escaping steamer, Ägir. After a further 45 minutes, at 07.00, Ägir was also sunk after it too was found to have contraband on board. After sinking four boats within 24 hours, Hoppe was now satisfied. He handed over the two Swedish crews that he had taken on board during the early morning hours to another Swedish ship that had no contraband in its cargo.
Discovery - The beginning In 1993 we found the first documents concerning the fate of Jönköping. Captain Eriksson's protest had been archived in Gävle's courthouse for the past 77 years, just waiting for someone to find it. The cargo of Jönköping was treasure indeed! The ship had been loaded with 50 cases of champagne (7.5 tons), 17 barrels of wine (5 tons) and 67 barrels of cognac (48 tons), almost all addressed to the tsar of Russia. We did not know then if any of this would still be drinkable or not. We did not even know if the barrels were broken or intact after all those years at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Experts told us that the chance of finding anything as old as this that would still drinkable would be close to zero. However, we thought it would be better to find a pile of wood than not even try to find anything at all, so we continued our investigation into the fate of Jönköping.
Captain Eriksson's protest told us that Jönköping had been sunk by the German submarine U-22, 4.5 nautical miles off some shallows known as Relanders Grund. The protest also told us about the Swedish steamer Ägir, which had been sunk an hour after Jönköping. In a newspaper from 1916 one of the crewmembers stated that U-22 left Jönköping sinking, turned south and headed straight towards Ägir. After 15 minutes they caught up with Ägir and stopped her. The protest lodged by Ägir's captain stated their position as 6 nautical miles off an islet named Santakari båk, which is north-east of Jönköping's stated position. We had just discovered our first big problem concerning Jönköping.
Who was right? We now knew the stated positions of the two ships when they were sunk. However, the positions did not correspond with the crewmember's statement about the direction the submarine took after it sank Jönköping. Who was right and who was wrong? If we could not find out we would be forced to search an area of about 100 million square metres to find Jönköping.
From the military archive in Freiburg, Germany, we obtained a copy of U-22's logbook for the period covering the sinking of Jönköping. Commander Bruno Hoppe had obviously been schooled in German perfectionism because noted in the logbook were the exact positions of where he had sunk both Jönköping and Ägir. Those positions did not correspond at all with the positions the Swedish captains had stated. Hoppe's position for Jönköping's sinking was 10 nautical miles south-west of Captain Eriksson's estimated position. Further on, Hoppe had noted that the sinking of Ägir took place about 2 nautical miles south of his position for Jönköping. We now had a solution to our problem.
We thought that Commander Hoppe was probably correct about the positions. Since U-22 had lain close to the coastline waiting for ships to show up, they probably knew exactly which position they had been in when they spotted Jönköping. The Swedish ships both came from the open sea, which would have made it more difficult for them to know their exact positions. We also bore the statement of the crewmember in mind: that they had sailed for about 15 minutes between Jönköping and Ägir seemed to fit very well with Hoppe's positions. We therefore decided to rely on Hoppe's stated positions.
Four years of preparation All these investigations followed by the preparation and financing of the expedition took us about 4 years. In May 1997 we were ready to go out and search for the sunken treasure. We obtained permission from the Finnish authorities to search an area of 30 million square metres around Hoppe's stated positions. To help us find the wreck we had rented a Finnish diving vessel and a side-scan sonar. After 3 days we had systematically searched almost the whole square we were allowed to search in. All we had seen on the monitor was boring mud bottom - in an area that was reputed to have about 20 wrecks!
Ägir is found Suddenly jubilation broke out on board: we had spotted a wreck on the monitor. We could immediately see that it was a steamer. We did not even dare think it might be Ägir because of all the wrecks that were supposed to be in the area. We dived and filmed, and on the fourth day of the expedition we were sure we had found Ägir. However, the position did not correspond with Hoppe's stated position. The wreck actually lay 2.2 nautical miles east-north-east of Hoppe's position. We decided to draw up a new square to search in by recalculating Hoppe's stated position for Jönköping using Ägir's actual position.
Getting close On our fifth day we started to search in one of the corners of the square but were very soon interrupted by bad weather. While returning to harbour we passed over the calculated position when, on an ordinary echo sounder, we started to get a characteristic wreck echo. As we cruised round this spot we could see on the side-scan monitor that it actually was a wreck on the bottom. It was, however, at a depth of 64 metres. The next day, the sixth day of our expedition, we were able to film the wreck but could not yet be sure of its identity. We just hoped and prayed that it was Jönköping. Unfortunately we were not able to go down and survey the wreck. We did not think it was a good idea to dive with just air and simple scuba equipment to a depth of 64 metres in our waters. We realized that we had to go home and return with the appropriate equipment and divers.
Trimix divers A month later we put out to sea again. We had contracted two trimix divers to do two 20-minute dives to the wreck to confirm its identity. Their mission was to find a name-plate or some other proof that this was the wreck of Jönköping. The divers were supposed to remain on the bottom for 20 minutes and then spend 41 minutes in decompression before returning to the surface. Because we had no communication with the divers, we sent down a rescue diver to meet them at 30 metres and make sure that everything was all right. After a while we saw something breaking the surface. It was a bottle of champagne! During the last few minutes on the wreck one of the divers had found a bottle of champagne on the deck, which he later gave to our rescue diver. We were now 100% sure that the wreck we had found was Jönköping!
Salvage - Expedition no. 1 Our first expedition to Jönköping started in Gävle on 23 May 1997. Two days later we were able to begin the search for Jönköping. After 4 days of searching, on the 29 May 1997, we found a wreck. However, because it lay at a depth of 64 metres we were not able to investigate it with the equipment we had. Although we were fairly confident it was Jönköping, she lay much deeper than we had reckoned with. Furthermore our permission to search from the Finnish government ended on the 31 May. On 30 May we therefore decided to break off investigations for a while.
Expedition no. 2 Coming back home we decided to contract tech divers, who breathe a mixture of various gases instead of ordinary air that enables them to dive safely to greater depths, to confirm that the wreck really was Jönköping. Our second expedition took place on 5-7 July 1997. The two tech divers had gas and equipment for just two dives each, which was just enough. When they returned from the first dive they brought a bottle of champagne, confirming that it was Jönköping we had found. During their second dive they were able to salvage another 21 bottles of champagne. We returned to Sweden where experts tasted the champagne at a press conference. This confirmed that our find was unique and created news that echoed all over the world.
The first bottle brought up by the divers had no label or anything else that could tell us what kind of champagne it was. For several hours we just stood there looking at the bottle - we hadn't expected the divers to return with a bottle, and we just didn't know what to do with it! Our first inspection showed that the contents looked very clear, as if the bottle was filled with water. There was about 20 mm of air in the bottle so we assumed that seawater had not penetrated it. After hours of looking we decided that we simply had to open the bottle and see what was inside. As the project leader I (Peter Lindberg, author) was given the honour of opening the first bottle.
I stood at the bow of the diving vessel surrounded by the entire crew with plastic mugs in their hands waiting for me to open the bottle. I took a firm grip on the cork and tried to pull it out, but was surprised to find that it was totally stuck. I had to use force get it moving. Finally the cork came out of the bottle with a pop. I was amazed that my brutal treatment had not broken the cork. I cautiously sniffed it. My first reaction was that it didn't smell very nice. There were some inscriptions on it: 'Heidsieck & Co. Reims' on the bottom, and 'Goût Américain 1907' on the side. I gave the cork to the man beside me and then put my nose to the bottle and sniffed. It smelled much better than the cork and I immediately realized that it was not water in the bottle. The people around me sniffed the cork one by one and their reactions were much the same as mine. When I therefore put the bottle to my lips and took my first sip I think they thought I was crazy. It had a very strong, sweet and fruity taste. It was very good! The others looked at me to see my reaction. I lowered the bottle and very soon a big smile was on my face. Soon I had a bunch of plastic mugs in front of me. Since I'd survived the first sip, the rest of the crew were eager to taste this marvellous champagne. The diver who had brought up the first bottle told us he had found it in an open wooden case on deck. He estimated there were about 20 bottles in the case. We therefore decided that for the next dive we would send down a plastic box that could hold about 20 bottles so that the divers could try to retrieve as many bottles as possible from the wooden case on deck. The plastic box was connected to the down line by a length of rope about 3 to 4 metres so that it could be moved about on the wreck. Meanwhile the divers required a 9-hour break between dives. The hours went by very slowly, but at last it was time for the next dive. We sent the plastic box down to the wreck before the divers went down. We also decided that we would not bring the plastic box to the surface before they had finished their dive, to avoid any possibility of the divers becoming entangled in the lines.
The divers went down and a very long wait began. After a while we sent down the rescue diver, who returned after a few minutes, this time without a bottle. When the two divers returned to the surface we of course asked if they had been able to find the case of champagne. Their answer was not what we had hoped for. One of the divers told us that they had not found the wooden case and that the plastic box we had sent down had landed in completely the wrong place. The diver started to smile as if he knew something but wasn't going to tell us. He then said that the plastic box had landed in the cargo hold, and in the next second he shouted out that it contained thousands of champagne bottles! He said that they would have been able to fill several plastic boxes while they were down, but we had just sent down one box.
Expedition no. 3 After finding out how unique this champagne was - 81 years at the bottom of the sea and still tasting excellent - we decided to try to salvage the whole cargo. We contracted five tech divers and trained three of our own divers in tech diving. On 1 August 1997 we were able to begin salvaging the cargo. We soon found out, however, that we did not have the right equipment to complete the salvage. After 8 days and 47 dives we therefore once again decided to return to Sweden. This time we brought with us 511 bottles of champagne, 400 of which were salvaged in the last 2 days.
Expedition no. 4 With the resources we had we now realized that it would take too long to salvage the cargo. One alternative was to contract a deep-diving company, which would cost anywhere between 8 and 15 million Swedish kronor. Apart from not having the funds to do this we also realized that it would be very difficult to raise such an amount. The other alternative was therefore the only possibility: we would simply have to move the entire wreck, including the cargo, to shallow water. This was possible because, measuring only 20.5 by 6.67 metres, the wreck was not very big. We could then use our own divers, including those who were not tech divers.
We asked individuals and companies that are experts in ship salvage for help, but the more we talked to them the more answers we got. In the end we got together with one of the world's biggest suppliers of lifting gear to develop the equipment we needed to salvage the entire wreck, while spending as little time as possible on the bottom. To be able to winch the wreck we needed a huge lifting capacity on the surface and together with a working area that was stable enough to support weights of up to 100 tons. We bought a cable winch and mounted it out on a hired barge. Building the lifting equipment and assembling everything we needed took us about a month.
On 1 October 1997 we were once again at the wreck site, this time with just four tech divers instead of seven. We dropped four big anchors to hold the barge in position over the wreck. Placing the lifting gear over the wreck was relatively easy, despite our limited diving possibilities. However, part of Jönköping's rig had fallen causing the lifting gear to be incorrectly positioned on the wreck. To add to this, bad weather, an accident and decompression sickness finally forced us to return once again to Sweden. Of the 17 days we were at sea we were able to use just 4 days for diving, and we had to leave the lifting gear incorrectly positioned.
Expedition no. 5 The problems we had during expedition number 4 made us realize that the diving must be done in a safer and more effective way than we had done so far. We decided to contract a company that could dive at this depth but was less expensive than those we had contacted before. Our search led us to a Danish diving consortium.
We began our fifth expedition on 19 November 1997. As soon as we started diving we found out that the anchors we had dropped had dragged because of the bad weather, and it would take a couple of days' work to unravel them. While we were trying to solve this mess we also had divers positioning cables under the wreck. We needed just 24 hours to be ready to winch the wreck. For once it was calm and we were perfectly positioned. We were, however, still unravelling our anchors, so if the weather turned bad again we would have a problems staying in position. We decided to continue our diving and move the anchors later if we needed to.
While we were doing this the Finnish coastguard called us. They told us to stop work until they the following day, when they would arrive to check our permit. We were not even allowed to move our anchors. The coastguard claimed that our permit to dive had expired in August, but our Finnish lawyer had informed us that we did not need permission. When the coastguard arrived next day we discovered that to continue working we only needed to apply verbally to the coastguard in Åbo for a permit to continue.
Meanwhile the calm weather changed for the worse. Two of our anchor moorings broke and the other four anchors dragged and got stuck in the wreck. Despite this we decided to stay in position because we were so close to winching. During the night that followed, however, it started to blow even harder and our vessel struck the barge violently. The superstructure of the vessel was substantially damaged and we were forced to seek refuge at the port of Rauma. Yet again the salvage expedition had to be interrupted and we returned to Sweden.
Expedition no. 6 The next salvage expedition started on 11 December 1997. When we arrived at the wreck site this time we found a mess of cables. Three 56 mm cables, each 90 metres long and belonging to the anchors that had dragged last time, were entangled with the wreck. They had also pulled the lifting gear off the wreck so that it now lay on the seabed. It took our divers a week to cut and clear away the mess. We managed to get the lifting gear back on the wreck and position the cables under the stem once again. This time we left for Sweden because Christmas was approaching. We left the wreck site on 21 December 1997 with just a few days' work left to do before we could at last winch Jönköping from the seabed.
Expedition no. 7 Our seventh expedition to Jönköping was to be the last and most successful of our attempts to salvage the entire wreck. This time we had contracted the Greek registered company Ogmore Ltd to take care of the entire salvage operation. A 'no cure, no pay' agreement was drawn up between The Baltic Wreck Jönköping AB and Ogmore Ltd.
At the beginning of July 1998 the pontoon crane Pernille Diver arrived at the wreck site. On board was a complete deep-diving system with decompression chamber, a diving bell, helium and oxygen supplies and many other things, including accommodation facilities.
The work remaining to be done before we could finally salvage Jönköping and her cargo consisted of making two tunnels under the hull for two lifting slings connected to steel beams. Bad weather delayed the operation, but by 24 July 1998 everything was ready and we could begin to lift the wreck.
The crane slowly started to winch up the lifting cable and Jönköping left the seabed without a problem. With Jönköping hanging at a depth of 10 metres we started salvaging the cargo. Within 2 days 2,000 bottles of champagne were recovered together with 17 cognac barrels and many other items.
By 26 July the salvage work was over and we lifted Jönköping to the surface, and for the first time in 82 years the sun shone on her. Some time later, with sadness in our hearts, we had to let Jönköping sink once more to the seabed.
Champagne When we started the project in 1993 experts told us that the champagne could not be in good condition after such a long time. What they did not take into account, however, was that this champagne had been at the bottom of the sea in a wreck for many decades, preserved in a very unusual way. Today we think that the best way to preserve old champagne must be in the total darkness and constant temperature of 4 degrees Celsius that is found in the almost salt-free water 64 metres below the surface of the southern part of the Gulf of Bothnia.
In 1993 when we first found the documents describing the cargo we only knew how many cases of champagne there were and that their combined weight was 7,500 kg. There was no record of what kind of champagne is was, and we did not put much effort into finding out since we were convinced that after all this time it would be destroyed. Various experts, however, suggested that the cognac could have survived. We therefore decided to go for the cognac and started to search for the wreck of Jönköping.
The first bottle We found the wreck on 29 May 1997 but we had to wait to 7 July before we could confirm, by bringing up the first bottles, that it was indeed Jönköping that we had found. The champagne turned out to be Heidsieck & Co. Monopole, Goût Américain 1907. The first bottle brought up was opened after a few hours. It tasted fabulous and the colour of the champagne was very clear. It was even still sparkling.
A unique champagne More than fifty bottles have now been tasted by various champagne specialists who all agree that this champagne is one of the most interesting they have ever tasted. Duncan McEuen, a specialist at Christie's, noted: "Very solid corc, wich twisted out with some difficulty and remained intact. Fully branded. On pouring the mousse rose well up the glass and comprised very tiny, pin-prick bubbles. Medium straw colour, not deep. Absolutely bright. Extremely positive nose. Rich, buttery, bisquity. Very intense and completely clear and fresh. Youthful. Palate rich, medium sweet on entry. Full finish. Very youthful with great power."
The champagne has also been tested at an independent laboratory, Station Oenotechnique de Champagne, Épernay, France. The results show that the champagne is still very high quality. For example, there is 42.55 grams of sugar per litre of champagne, the pH value is 2.93 and it contains 12.35% alcohol.
Laurent Davaine, managing director of Heidsieck & Co., now called Vranken, made the following comments: "After more than 80 years spent in the wreck of Jönköping this wine still shows an amazing balance. It has not been denatured and has kept a beautiful structure (as the 2.93 pH reveals). This Goût Américain style had a relatively high sugar dosage (hence the 42.55 grams per litre shown by the analysis).
Along the same line, other criteria in the analysis do not reveal any problems with this wine. The fact that this cuvé did not go through malolactic fermentation explains its freshness when tasting. The latter consitutes a true discovery and an excellent surprise: a beautiful golden hue with the effervescence still present. One should note the good state of the cork that has obviously protected the wine from external forces. This wine is very round and well-structured. An ample and aromatic nose is dominated by honey, cooked fruits and Corinthe raisins. Exceptionally long in the mouth. It is a truly great wine."
No labels When the champagne bottles followed Jönköping down to the seabed they had red foil round their necks with lettering in gold. Today the red paint has gone grey-black but the lettering is still in gold. No labels have been found and no original labels remain at Heidsieck & Co., so we cannot really be sure what they looked like.
When we started the salvage project we knew that there were 50 cases of champagne and that its total weight was 7,500 kg. What we did not know was how many bottles there were in the cases.
Now that the salvage of Jönköping is over we know that there were 60 bottles in each case, so altogether there were 3,000 champagne bottles on board Jönköping.
Cognac The cognac barrels from Jönköping turned out to be a disappointment. In contrast to the champagne bottles, the barrels had not been able to keep the seawater out and, apart from a remote cognac flavour, they did not contain anything of interest. The cognac was shipped in 67 barrels each containing about 600 litres of varying quality, from one-star to the extraordinary Grand Champagne VOCB. All the cognac was from Bisquit Dubouché & Co., today called Renault Bisquit. The cognac had an alcohol content of up to 80%, which was intended to be reduced to about 40% on arrival at its destination in Russia. We found a pack of cognac labels that were in remarkably good condition. Apparently these were to have been used on the cognac bottles used to serve the guests of the tsar of Russia.
Items for sale In addition to the champagne bottles, we salvaged a number of cognac labels that had been lying in the wreck of Jönköping at a depth of 64 metres for over 80 years! When Jönköping was brought to the surface in July 1998 some of these marvellous cognac labels were recovered. The labels are still in remarkably good condition: the paper is not at all brittle or fragile and they can be handled without fear of damaging them.
Eighty years at the bottom of the sea has of course left its mark, but the wear makes them look even more authentic.
Some of the labels are now for sale in the form of individual sets that each contain a label and a printed narrative of the salvage project printed on high-quality paper and designed to be framed together with the label.