Centuries-old blockship wrecks ID’d in SwedenFollowing extensive diving and archival investigations, marine archaeologists at Vrak, the Museum of Wrecks in Stockholm, have succeeded in identifying eight of nine 17th- and 18th-century warship wrecks off Karlskrona in south-eastern Sweden. Their discovery was reported on Divernet in 2022, when it was thought that the site contained 10 or more ships lying together. A Vrak diver examines one of the wrecks (Mikael Fredholm, Vrak / SMTM)“Among other things, we have identified one of the wrecks as Hercules, the oldest warship found so far in Karlskrona,” says Hansson. The Queen Ulrika Eleonora warshipGraphic image of the Smörasken wrecks (Vrak / SMTM)“These ships were sunk in the early 18th century during the Great Northern War as part of Karlskrona’s defences,” says Höglund. “We can see that many ships were sunk as a quick defence because they were not equipped for an external threat,” adds Hansson.