Ingemar Lundgren
04-11-2006, 02:16 PM
Posting an upcoming article about the wreck S/S Charlotte Schröder located by OD two years ago. Article written by Ocean Discovery member Stefan Karlsson. The article is yet to be edited.
S/S Charlotte Schröder
By Stefan Karlsson
The wreck of Charlotte Schröder, a German steam ship, was found nested on the floor of the Baltic Sea by Ocean Discovery in the summer of 2003. Her resting ground was 80 meters below sea-level just beyond the northern cape of Öland, Sweden. An insight to her location was provided by local fishermen and side scan sonar. However, adverse weather conditions prevented the first scheduled dives and significantly delayed exploration of the site. It was not until mid 2004 the diving teams were able to investigate the site and unearth the secrets of the Baltic Sea.
4
Charlotte Schröders home port was Rostock. She was built at the Schröner & Jensen Tönning shipyard and measured 64 x 9,7 x 4,6 meters. Following her maiden launch in 1901 she sailed under the names Lisbeth Zelck, Lena Larsen, Erika Fischer, and Marie Gartz. Despite her many aliases she remained true to her heritage and sailed under the German flag.
On Saturday morning the 16th of December 1948 the Charlotte Schröder began her journey from Gävle towards Antwerp. Within two days she had reached Kapelludden and it was here that disaster struck. The crew discovered a leak in the stern. There was heavy water intake with resultant flooding of the machine room and waterlogged the boiler and pumps. Despite valiant efforts by the crew to lighten the load and jettison the wooden cargo the ship dramatically heeled over and continued sinking. Due to the angled projection the crew could only reach one of the lifeboats, which had a capacity for 7 men. This rendered it impossible for them all to reach the mainland. The irreversible submergence of the Charlotte Schröder continued over the next 12 hours. Another German ship, Greif, was the first ship to pick up the distress signal from the sinking Charlotte Schröder on early Tuesday morning. Indeed two ships had passed by them during midnight and had been oblivious to their plight. The Greif notified the marine district of Karlskrona that Charlotte Schröder was in distress and about to sink outside the city of Högby. “Neptunbolaget” was contacted in addition to a number of navy vessels including the cruiser Tre Kronor. However, it was their original saviour, the Greif that reached them first and rescued the crew from the sinking Charlotte Schröder. The crew had to leave all their belongings onboard and watch as she slipped into her watery grave. The forlorn crew was taken to Visby the same day.
The protracted delay in exploring the wreck site heightened the excitement and expectation of the first dive. It finally took place in the summer of 2004, being the first of three to investigate and report on the wreck.
The harrowing extent of destruction of the Charlotte Schröder was immediately apparent from the first dive. She was camouflaged under discarded fishing lines and nets. An encounter with a trawling net had rendered her bridgeless! Ironically clues of her whereabouts were to some extent accountable for the destruction of the wreck. The majority of the damage was to the midsection of the ship; little remained here although the divers did locate the main steering wheel and the machine telegraph under the debris.
Mercifully the bow and stern survived the worst ravages and remained reasonably well preserved. The bow still retained its two anchors, majestically hanging on both flanks.
More surprisingly the bow still held a special treasure….the ship bell. Despite being inscriptionless, the beautiful white bell was found with its clapper intact and housed in its original stand. A four bladed reserve propeller was found in the stern shrouded in trawling nets. Thesmoke stackwas also well preserved with only collapse of a small portion of the top. Amazingly it had escaped the onslaught of the trawler which had been responsible for the widespread destruction of the mid frame.
5
The visibility was extremely good during the three dives with the water being almost particle free. Some sunlight permeated down to the ship and the horizontal visibility reached 30 meters. The divers used a gas of 55% helium, 15% oxygen balanced with nitrogen; bottom times varied from 20-25 minutes. Powerful HMI-lights were used together with video photography to record the wreck site. Following edition a 10 minute video documentary was produced of the selected highlights.
The manufacturing plate was found under the trawling nets during one of the dives. This together with the ship’s cargo and the position of the wreck helped confirm that this was the Charlotte Schröder. It is the intent to continue documenting the wreck during the summer of 2005.
S/S Charlotte Schröder
By Stefan Karlsson
The wreck of Charlotte Schröder, a German steam ship, was found nested on the floor of the Baltic Sea by Ocean Discovery in the summer of 2003. Her resting ground was 80 meters below sea-level just beyond the northern cape of Öland, Sweden. An insight to her location was provided by local fishermen and side scan sonar. However, adverse weather conditions prevented the first scheduled dives and significantly delayed exploration of the site. It was not until mid 2004 the diving teams were able to investigate the site and unearth the secrets of the Baltic Sea.
4
Charlotte Schröders home port was Rostock. She was built at the Schröner & Jensen Tönning shipyard and measured 64 x 9,7 x 4,6 meters. Following her maiden launch in 1901 she sailed under the names Lisbeth Zelck, Lena Larsen, Erika Fischer, and Marie Gartz. Despite her many aliases she remained true to her heritage and sailed under the German flag.
On Saturday morning the 16th of December 1948 the Charlotte Schröder began her journey from Gävle towards Antwerp. Within two days she had reached Kapelludden and it was here that disaster struck. The crew discovered a leak in the stern. There was heavy water intake with resultant flooding of the machine room and waterlogged the boiler and pumps. Despite valiant efforts by the crew to lighten the load and jettison the wooden cargo the ship dramatically heeled over and continued sinking. Due to the angled projection the crew could only reach one of the lifeboats, which had a capacity for 7 men. This rendered it impossible for them all to reach the mainland. The irreversible submergence of the Charlotte Schröder continued over the next 12 hours. Another German ship, Greif, was the first ship to pick up the distress signal from the sinking Charlotte Schröder on early Tuesday morning. Indeed two ships had passed by them during midnight and had been oblivious to their plight. The Greif notified the marine district of Karlskrona that Charlotte Schröder was in distress and about to sink outside the city of Högby. “Neptunbolaget” was contacted in addition to a number of navy vessels including the cruiser Tre Kronor. However, it was their original saviour, the Greif that reached them first and rescued the crew from the sinking Charlotte Schröder. The crew had to leave all their belongings onboard and watch as she slipped into her watery grave. The forlorn crew was taken to Visby the same day.
The protracted delay in exploring the wreck site heightened the excitement and expectation of the first dive. It finally took place in the summer of 2004, being the first of three to investigate and report on the wreck.
The harrowing extent of destruction of the Charlotte Schröder was immediately apparent from the first dive. She was camouflaged under discarded fishing lines and nets. An encounter with a trawling net had rendered her bridgeless! Ironically clues of her whereabouts were to some extent accountable for the destruction of the wreck. The majority of the damage was to the midsection of the ship; little remained here although the divers did locate the main steering wheel and the machine telegraph under the debris.
Mercifully the bow and stern survived the worst ravages and remained reasonably well preserved. The bow still retained its two anchors, majestically hanging on both flanks.
More surprisingly the bow still held a special treasure….the ship bell. Despite being inscriptionless, the beautiful white bell was found with its clapper intact and housed in its original stand. A four bladed reserve propeller was found in the stern shrouded in trawling nets. Thesmoke stackwas also well preserved with only collapse of a small portion of the top. Amazingly it had escaped the onslaught of the trawler which had been responsible for the widespread destruction of the mid frame.
5
The visibility was extremely good during the three dives with the water being almost particle free. Some sunlight permeated down to the ship and the horizontal visibility reached 30 meters. The divers used a gas of 55% helium, 15% oxygen balanced with nitrogen; bottom times varied from 20-25 minutes. Powerful HMI-lights were used together with video photography to record the wreck site. Following edition a 10 minute video documentary was produced of the selected highlights.
The manufacturing plate was found under the trawling nets during one of the dives. This together with the ship’s cargo and the position of the wreck helped confirm that this was the Charlotte Schröder. It is the intent to continue documenting the wreck during the summer of 2005.