Sunken treasure: Is the champagne nestled in a 19th-century shipwreck still fit for a toast?

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Is the Nineteenth century Champagne on the underside of the Baltic Sea nonetheless match for a toast?

A group of Polish divers has found the wreckage of an previous crusing ship loaded “to the brim” with luxurious items together with porcelain gadgets and about 100 bottles of Champagne and mineral water about 58 meters (190 toes) deep off the Swedish coast.

They consider the dear items may have been on the best way to the royal desk in Stockholm or the Russian tsar’s residence in St. Petersburg when the ship sank someday within the second half of the Nineteenth century, in keeping with the chief of the group, Tomasz Stachura.

The personal Baltictech group of divers which searches for shipwrecks on the Baltic seabed made the invention on July 11 whereas checking spots of curiosity about 37 kilometers (20 nautical miles) south of the isle of Öland. They have been able to name it a day, however two divers, Marek Cacaj and Pawel Truszynski, determined to make a fast dive and emerged two hours later with the information of the wreckage and its priceless cargo.

“I’ve been diving for 40 years, and it typically occurs that we discover a bottle or two in a wreck, however to find a lot cargo, it’s a primary for me,” Stachura advised The Related Press this week.

The model of mineral water, Selters, believed on the time to have medical properties, was printed on the stoneware bottles. The Champagne model continues to be to be decided., however the letter R could possibly be seen on one cork, Stachura mentioned.

He mentioned he believes the contents are nonetheless in good situation.

“At this depth the wreckage is completely preserved, the temperature is fixed, there are not any currents and it’s darkish,” Stachura mentioned. “That preserves the wreckage in a beautiful manner.”

He mentioned Champagne and Selters specialists have already contacted Baltictech and are concerned about doing laboratory exams on the contents of the bottles. However it’s Swedish authorities who will resolve the subsequent steps in exploring the wreck, Stachura mentioned.

Divers from Baltictech beforehand found the wreck of the SS Karlsruhe, the final ship to go away Koenigsberg in 1945 as a part of the evacuation of German civilians in World Struggle II.