The wreck of a ship found in the waters around Häringe and Landfjärden, on the east coast of Södertörn about 25 miles south of Stockholm, has been discovered to be the oldest carvel-built ship in the Baltic region. Samples of the wood recovered by maritime archaeologists from the Vrak Museum (Museum of Wrecks) date it to the second half of the 15th century, a period when ships were still built with the clinker technique, made using the overlapping planks, instead of the edge-to-edge planks of the carvel style. It likely predates the Danish royal warship Gribshunden, which was carvel-built in 1482 but in the Netherlands, not in the Baltic Sea area.
Several shipwrecks were known to be at the site since at least the early 19th century, and rumors arose that they were Viking ships that sank in a battle Olaf the Holy, King of Norway (r. 1015-1028) and its patron saint, had participated in when he was a teenager. According to the Icelandic saga Tale of King Olaf, written by Snorri Sturlason in the 13th century, Olaf’s stepfather Sigurd Syr, one of Norway’s petty kings, defeated the Viking chieftain Sote at Soteskär “in the Swedish islets.” The location of the legendary Soteskär is not recorded, but Romantic writers in the early 19th century linked it to Södertörn. That’s how the popular belief grew that the shipwrecks in the area had sunk in the naval battle between Sigurd and Sote.
Amateur maritime archaeologist Anders Franzén dove the wrecks in the late 1950s and announced he had determined they were indeed Viking vessels because their dimensions matched exactly the Viking ships in Oslo. Much excitement ensued. Franzén had just rediscovered the Vasa and plans were being made to recover it, so the Norwegian press was atwitter at the prospect of “Olaf the Holy’s dragon ships” being raised and returned to Norway.
Obviously that never happened. In 2023, maritime archaeologists decided to get some answers, at long last. They dove the shipwrecks, photographing and documenting them with modern technology to penetrate the murky, dark waters. The samples they took were analyzed for origin and date and it turns out that none of the ships were from the Viking era. For one thing, the known shipwrecks were carvel-built, not clinker-built, and most of them appeared to date to the 17th and 18th centuries. A small clinker-built pine ship was found inside Wreck 2 and the timber was even Norwegian, but dendrochronological analysis dated the wood to 1700.
Wreck 5 is the largest and best-preserved of the ships. Its surviving oak hull is 108 feet long and 33 feet wide. The sternpost and the rudder are upright in their original positions. The stump of the mainmast survive midship after having been roughly sawn off.
The first attempt at dendrochronological analysis of the wood samples from Wreck 5 failed, so new samples were taken an analyzed by Lund University experts. This time they were able to date the ship to either the 1480s or maybe even as early as the 1460s with some repairs made 20 years later. The timber was felled in either Möre or Blekinge in southern Sweden.
The Museum of Wreck’s maritime archaeologists will now complete their project on Häringe’s maritime environment. After that, there are plans to establish Wreck 5 as a separate research project.
“We plan to apply for external funding for an excavation,” [museum curator and project leader Håkan] Altrock says. “This ship represents a fascinating link between medieval and modern shipbuilding. It has the potential to provide us with valuable new insights into an important period in Sweden’s maritime history.”
The carvel construction technique allowed for the building of stronger and larger ships. Many researchers believe its emergence was a response to the introduction of cannons on ships in the 15th century. The need for onboard artillery required vessels with stability and durability, as well as hulls strong enough to withstand enemy cannon fire.
