The research work in 2001

The Maritime Museum carried out the first field research of its own at the site in 2001. The team set up the year before planned and organised the fieldwork. At the site there were researchers Riikka Alvik and Minna Leino from the Maritime Museum and members of the diving association Rannikkosukeltajat ry, which had documented the site earlier. Researcher Dr. Georg Haggrén from the Department of Monuments and Sites collected background information on the artefacts found at the site and studied the medieval history of the area. Student Teemu Mökkönen made a topographic model of the shipwreck site and its surroundings as they were in the 14th century. The model was based on facts about shore displacement. The Finnish Maritime Administration carried out a multibeam sonar search to get information on the forms and depths of the sea bottom at the site.

The most important aim of the field research period was to carry on the outlining of the site area, to learn out about its size and nature. Based on the reports of voluntary divers and earlier check dives, we knew there would be ceramics, stoneware and a bronze church bell at the site.

The main emphasis of the field period was on the documenting of the site: divers took underwater transparencies and black and white photographs of both the cargo and the wreck parts. There were some unidentified wooden objects near the area on which most of the artefacts were found and one of the aims was to find out whether the unknown objects were in fact a part of the wreck. Near the structural parts of the wreck there was also a large unidentified chunk that was covered by crust. The investigations showed that the site area was surprisingly rich in content and larger than expected.

When the pictures taken at the site in 2001 were compared with pictures taken earlier we were sorry to see that some of the ceramics were missing. It is likely that there had been wreck robbers at the site. The exact number of missing artefacts is not known. The unauthorized touching of the wreck was reported to the police at the beginning of 2002. According to the Antiquities Act, law protects ancient monuments and any unauthorized touching of them is prohibited under penalty of fine or imprisonment. Because of the unauthorized touching, the research strategy and schedule had to be changed. The field season of the following year was made longer and all visible artefacts were to be raised. It was obvious the area needed more protection, and both the Finnish Coast Guard and the Archipelago National Park were asked to watch over the area.