One of the most interesting research sites off the Finnish coast is 40 metres below the waves. Some of the cargo was washed up on the shore and auctioned in Turku the following year. Divers have been studying the wreck, under the supervision of the Maritime Museum, for the past nearly forty summers. Among the objects that they have found are a rococo carriage made for the Czarina Elisabeth Petrovna, extraordinarily beautiful tableware and other valuables. Several other important, if lesser-known, wrecks are likewise being studied on a continuing basis.
Conservation is done in several stages.
First the piece is kept in fresh water to leach out the salt. Then the water, which has filled the cells of the wood for so long, is replaced with a plastic solution. If the piece is large, this can take a few years. Before this procedure was introduced, conservation attempts proved fairly futile. The huge Swedish warship Wasa, which sank on its maiden voyage and is now on display in Stockholm, was sprayed with a plastic solution for nearly twenty years after it was salvaged.