Experts from Finland, Russia, Sweden and the Netherlands agreed on the establishment of an international research team for Vrouw Maria wreck, said the Finnish Education Ministry in a statement on Tuesday.
The Finnish National Board of Antiquities would prepare an action model and aims for the research project, which will also study whether it was possible to haul the wreck to the surface, said it.
Vrouw Maria was a two-masted merchant vessel on her way from Amsterdam to St. Petersburg in the autumn of the year 1771. On a stormy night in the outer archipelago of Nauvo, Vrouw Maria suffered shipwreck and sank later.
Vrouw Maria has a reputation of a treasure ship because her cargo consisted of art treasures bought by Russian aristocrats and Catherine the Great.
In the autumn of 1999, the Finnish Maritime Museum, being responsible for the underwater cultural heritage in Finland, engaged a researcher to co-ordinate investigations concerning the wreck of Vrouw Maria. The Museum started field research on the wreck in the summer of 2000.
Source:Xinhua
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