Russian monitor Russalka The Russalka ( also Rusalka , , " mermaid " ) , was an ironclad monitor of the Imperial Russian Navy , built in St . Petersburg in 1865 - 1867 . She was 204 feet long , had a beam of 42 feet , and carried armament of various calibers ; her heaviest guns were two nine - inch cannon . The ironclad was on active service with the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea from 1867 until she sank in the Gulf of Finland on 7 September 1893 , while steaming from Reval ( ) to Helsingfors ( ) . ( Both Estonia and Finland were at that time part of the Russian Empire . ) All 177 of her crew were lost . Loss of the Rusalka . " Rusalka " sailed from Reval ( Tallinn ) harbor at 08 : 30 . She was escorted by the gunship " Tucha " ( , " cloud " ) under commanding officer Lushkov ( ) , as monitors of that type were not seaworthy in high seas . Weather about 10 : 00 deteriorated into storm , with gale force winds and rain ; " Tucha " lost her charge from sight but sailed on leaving her behind and arrived safely at Helsingfors at 15 : 00 . There was no sign of the " Rusalka " but Lushkov notified nobody of these proceedings . The alarm about the ship missing was not raised until late in the evening of September the 9th , when lighthouse warden notified police about the corpse of a sailor and the lifeboat wreckage washed ashore discovered by fishermen on Sandhamn ( ) isle of Sveaborg ( ) archipelago , and news filtered through the " proper channels " to naval authorities . The search for the " Rusalka " , in which fifteen ships took part , lasted for 37 days , until October 16 , when it was suspended due to the increasing cold and winter storms . Nothing was found . In June and August 1894 , further attempts were made to search for the sunken warship using a towed balloon for observers , but they found nothing , and on August 15 , 1894 the search was officially recalled . Cause of the sinking . " Rusalka " was due to leave port at dawn , around 07 : 30 , which should have given her time to reach Helsingfors by noon , however her sailing was delayed by the late arrival of her Master . Despite the worsening weather , she was ordered to proceed . An examination of the wreckage showed no signs of an explosion . It was therefore assumed that heavy seas breaking over the ship could have entered the hatches into the interior of the ship , as these had been negligently secured , causing the ship to lose power , making it difficult to maintain its heading . Whatever the cause , " Rusalka " obviously broached and sank . On 28 – 30 January 1894 a court of inquiry was held , in which the commanding Admiral Burachek ( ) was officially reprimanded , and the Senior Captain was dismissed from the service . Monument . On 7 September 1902 , the ninth anniversary of the loss of the ship , a monument to the " Russalka " was erected in Tallinn . Sculpted by Amandus Adamson , it takes the form of a bronze angel standing on a granite pedestal . Discovery . In the spring of 2003 the Estonian Maritime Museum and the commercial diving company " Tuukritööde OÜ " launched the joint project of finding the ironclad " Rusalka " which had sunk 110 years earlier . In 22 July 2003 the wreck of the " Russalka " was located in the Gulf of Finland , south of Helsinki water by the museum´s research vessel " Mare " . On 24 July 2003 , deep divers Kaido Peremees and Indrek Ostrat further pinpointed and videoed the wreck . The ironclad was discovered in an unusual position ; following her foundering , the vessel plunged , bow first , 74 meters directly downward into the muddy bottom of the gulf , and fixed herself in that position . The divers saw the stern of the lost vessel rising 108 feet ( 33 meters ) above the sea bed . An earlier announcement , that the wreck of the " Russalka " had previously been found by Soviet EPRON military divers in 1933 , proved to be inaccurate .