In fact, it is one of the smallest, shallowest, most island-dotted and shoaliest seas in the world. For as long as the seas have been sailed, hundreds of vessels that have strayed off course or lost their battles with storms have ended up at the bottom of the Baltic, especially in its countless bays and inlets. Floor plates believed to have belonged to a Viking ship have been found in the Gulf of Finland. As research methods become more systematic, much more is likely to be uncovered. The low salinity means that the wood-eating shipworms common in the oceans do not thrive here.
Wooden wrecks are very well-preserved.
That would not happen in the Baltic. 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.