Courtcase. Illegal diving and recovery of items from an 18th century shipwreck in Finland

Well preserved cannon on the ships gundeck (picture copyright Badewanne)

And this one goes to court... It will be very interesting to see what the courts decision will be as this is the first case of it´s kind in Finland.

Four very experienced divers (ages 30-40 yrs) stand accused of stealing artifacts from a  18th century shipwreck located outside of Porvoo S Finland. The divers have worked as guides and arranged legal diving tours.

The 40 meter long wreck wreck lies at a depth of around 60 meters. The ship has had two gun decks and is in a remarkable state of preservation

The police (who previously were doing nothing) were tipped off by another diver and a reporter who is making a documentary about the looting of shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea region. The accused divers claim that they are innocent.

(Source Helsingin Sanomat)

http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/a1413868553264