In the Baltic sea have found a mysterious ancient ship.

An international team of researchers discovered the wreck of the late 15th — early 16th century at the bottom of the Baltic sea.

The ship is “in exceptional condition” and can be considered the most well-preserved among all the victims of shipwrecks of the time, writes the online edition of the Chronicle.info with reference to NV.

The crash site was first spotted as a flash on the side-scan sonar in 2009, during the study, the Swedish Maritime administration. The anomaly on the seabed were noted as probable shipwreck, which is not surprising since in the cold Baltic sea, a lot of them. This year this surge has become more concrete form when the robotic camera took pictures of the wooden ship.

In March, the MMT experts, graduate students and Maritime archaeologists from Southampton University, Marine research Institute of archaeology Shidertinskoe University and students from the Royal Institute of technology KTH in Stockholm worked on the application of artificial intelligence to improve the function of robotics in the dark to investigate the crash site.

Using modern Surveyor Interceptor ROV, the team illuminated the wreck and made thousands of photos with high resolution. They were then stitched together with photogrammetric technology to create extremely accurate, detailed composition of the vehicle from every angle possible.

Archaeologists believe that the ship belongs to the Renaissance period, making it earlier than the ill-fated flagship of Henry VIII — Mary rose (1545) or the Swedish warship Mars (1564). Even in the cold waters of the Baltic sea, where there are worms, a vessel of this age is an extremely rare discovery. This vessel has a large archaeological advantage: it did not explode like Mars, and it was not badly damaged.

Survived the whole hull from the keel to the upper deck, masts, bowsprit, some parts of the standing rigging. Saved even a bilge pump and a wooden capstan that served to lift the anchor. On the sides of the ship mounted swivel guns.

The appearance of the ship was found most similar to the Danish warship Gribshunden that sank off the coast of Sweden in 1495. But Gribshunden burned, and on this ship, we have no signs of a fire. The members of the expedition still call it Okänt Skepp, which means in Swedish “unknown ship”. The researchers plan to return to continue and intend to pick up one of the wooden planks of the ship. Dendrochronology (analysis of tree-ring) enables us to date the wood with extraordinary precision, so if all goes well, a separate Board will show when the tree was cut down.