Eriksson and his colleagues plan to offer boat tours where visitors can see some of the most spectacular wrecks through a camera attached to a remotely operated vehicle. The idea is modeled on a shipwreck tour in Lake Champlain, in Vermont, that uses the same technology. The boats would have flat-screen TVs installed, and the story of each shipwreck site would be told through 3D animations and old sea charts.
They hope to start the tours next year off the small town of Dalaro, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Stockholm. That area is especially rich in wrecks because it used to be the customs zone for ships traveling back and forth to the Swedish capital.
The underground cemetery in the Baltic Sea includes everything from medieval wooden ships to ironclad warships sunk during two world wars.
"They are like the pyramids of northern Europe, these wrecks, if we can only find a way to make them accessible," says Andreas Olsson, head of archaeology at the Swedish National Maritime Museums.
Not everyone in Dalaro is excited about the plans, and some worry that valuable historical items will be looted from the wrecks. Elise Claeson, a Dalaro resident and columnist at Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, said it would be better to salvage the wrecks and keep them in a museum.
"A commercial diving stunt is about to start in the midst of the most sensitive culture-historical parts of Dalaro," she wrote.
Sweden's most famous discovery, the royal warship Vasa, is housed in a popular museum, where visitors can admire the ship's details, down to the flashing teeth of the carved lions that adorn its elaborate exterior. The Vasa was raised from the Stockholm harbor in 1961, 333 years after it sank on its maiden voyage.
"It is fantastic, it really is. It is just how old it is and how well preserved it is," says Anne Hopkins, a 71-year-old visitor from Scotland. "I can only say one thing, wow!"
Another famous ship was discovered in 2003, dubbed the Dalaro wreck.
At a depth of 100 feet (30 meters), between the islets and rocks of the Dalaro archipelago, two masts from the 17th century ship of unknown origin are still rising toward the surface. On the deck, a cannon stands ready to fire. A handgun lies hidden in the rubble.
Jars and bottles — one marked with an English coat of arms — are scattered around the ship. A carved figurehead lion has made researchers uncertain about the ship's origin because it wasn't usual for a cargo vessel at the time.
The plans for Dalaro include a limited number of dive tours each year on the Dalaro Wreck and Anna Maria. Headed by a licensed guide, the tours will be granted exemption by the Stockholm County Administrative Board from a diving ban to avoid damage caused by large numbers of divers.
Olsson says the biggest problem is not looting, but that divers aren't careful enough.
"For us archeologists, we have a ship archaeology treasure in many respects and for the divers it is a wreck diving paradise," he says. "It is a very strong experience, I would say. I think it is going to be a strong experience also for non-archeologists."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-sweden-shipwrecks%2C1%2C4924947.story