Öland Expedition 2002

Monday, april 22th

Dansk

As I took a first glance out of the cabin the burning sun almost blinded me. Another great day was right ahead of us and the SS "Gutrune" was waiting for a visit.   We steamed off towards the 3.000 ton and 97 meter long SS "Gutrune". After a nice and calm journey to the wreck site we began our initial search. Our informations indicated that the wreck was standing 8 meters above the seabed. So when we got a 2 meter echo on the sounder I became a bit nervous. Was this the wreck or were we in the wrong place ?
After completing a few more circles we got a 4 meter echo and the shot went in. Anders Oestergaard and I quickly jumped in the water eager to establish the wrecks identity and condition.   It was the "Gutrune" but it certainly did not appear like we had expected. The bow and stern area stood about 4 meters above the seabed while the rest of the wreck had collapsed completely due to heavy corrosion.
Swimming through the wreck you could easily see how the wreck had broken up and the weight of the large winches and other deck arrangements had pushed the deck downwards.   It was quite educating to compare the original ships photo with the observations made by the divers. By this comparison it became clear that the remains probably will collapse in a few years leaving only the remains of the wreck a few meters above the seabed.   After completing the second dive we decided that we had seen enough and the next dive would be on the "Director Reppenhagen".

(c) nolimitsdiving 2002