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It only took two days for his five-person team to discover the wreck, but that was because the international team of experts from Britain, Korea and Canada already had a relatively good idea of where she had gone down, Nuytten said.

I was astonished they found it in such a short time

The ship was, in the end, found a little more than a kilometre off the South Korean island of Ulleungdo; the stern was found at a depth of 380 metres and the bow at a depth of 430 metres. Two submarines, the DeepWorker submersibles — which Nuytten invented and patented — with a diving depth of around 600 metres, found the Dmitrii Donskoi. With 360-degree sonar on the subs, Nuytten said, they could see for about 500 metres in any direction.

“It didn’t take us very long to spot this big bump on the sea floor and say ‘Aha, that’s the target, let’s go see what it is,’ ” Nuytten said. “The two subs were working on the wreck and one of the pilots went around what now turns out to be the front, and there was the nameplate.”

“I was astonished they found it in such a short time,” he said.

Nuytten’s crew is now doing a survey of the ship, using lasers and high-definition video to map out the wreck. Video released by Shinil Group shows guns, the ship’s wheel and anchor, all heavily encrusted after a century on the seabed.

“The body of the ship was severely damaged by shelling, with its stern almost broken, and yet the ship’s deck and sides are well preserved,” the Seoul-based Shinil Group said in a statement.

Photo by Shinil Group

The ship launched from Saint Petersburg in 1883, all 5,800 tons of her, operating a coal engine and full sails. All the masts are broken on the sunken ship, Shinil Group said. Before she was scuttled, the Dmitrii Donskoi avoided the attacking Japanese force, but was intercepted as she returned to the Russian port of Vladivostok.