01/11/2026
En medeltida kogg sjösätts!
I veckan företogs ett något udda projekt i Oskarshamn. Den så kallade Oskarshamnskoggen flyttades efter att ha förvarats i en bassäng i en lada i över 35 år.
Vraket undersöktes av marinarkeologer och bärgades i slutet av 1980-talet. Av koggen återstår själva skrovets bottendel .
Nu blir vraket ett undervattensmuseum på Havslätts Camping i Oskarshamn och vi kommer i vinter att arbeta med skyltning och förmedling. Arbetet är ett samarbete mellan Oskarshamns Sjöfartsförening, Havslätt Camping, Oskarshamns kommun och forskare från Södertörns högskola och Västerviks Museum.
Läs mer i. Inlägget från MARIS 🙂
The redeposition of the Oskarshamn cog has been completed! The medieval shipwreck now rests on the seabed off Havslätt beach in Oskarshamn, where it will become a new "underwater museum," set to open in the spring of 2027. This solution addresses an urgent preservation crisis while simultaneously making the wreck accessible to the public.
The wreck was discovered in the 1960s near Bossholmen, north of Oskarshamn. It underwent extensive investigation during the 1980s before being salvaged in 1987. Dating analysis indicates that the vessel was built in the mid-13th century using oak from southern Scandinavia. The ship has been identified as a "cog", a type of vessel that played an important role in trade, transport, and naval warfare during the Middle Ages. Analyses of botanical remains and environmental samples indicate that the ship transported grain and iron and was active within the vast trade networks that linked the coasts of the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Sea. Another possibility is that the ship served a function linked to Danish power ambitions in the Baltic region during this period.
Following its recovery, the initial ambition was to conserve the wreck and put it on display in Oskarshamn. However, this proved to be both technically complex and financially challenging. Consequently, for more than 35 years, the cog was kept in a wooden water tank on land. The ship was never formally allocated to any museum which meant an uncertainty regarding institutional responsibility. Preservation conditions gradually deteriorated, eventually reaching a critical state as the storage tank began to collapse. Given these circumstances, re-submerging the wreck in the sea was determined to be the most realistic solution, both in terms of cost and practical implementation. But instead of hiding it away an burying it, it was proposed that the wreck be made accessible underwater as a visitor attraction.
At Havslätt, the wreck now has been placed in shallow water, where it can be experienced directly within its marine environment through snorkeling, swimming, or from small glass-bottom boats. The site will also feature information panels and models detailing the ship’s history, the investigation of the wreck, and medieval seafaring. The new underwater museum is expected to become a unique attraction that strengthens Oskarshamn’s maritime cultural heritage and helps disseminate knowledge about medieval seafaring in the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, the wreck is expected to serve as a new habitat for fish, plants, and other marine life!
The "Oskarshamn cog" will be registered as an ancient monument at its new location, thereby receiving the same protection as all other historic wrecks in Sweden. The project is a collaboration between the Maritime Museum in Oskarshamn, the Municipality of Oskarshamn, MARIS at Södertörn University, Havslätt camping and Västerviks Museum.
Drawing: Jon Adams; Underwater photo: Rolf Warming. Text: Johan Rönnby
