ERR News – This summer, the National Heritage Board will hunt ancient shipwrecked sailboats with the help of an underwater robot and sonar.
Historical relics lying on the seafloor have been less explored in Estonia than the castle walls and spiritual groves on dry land, reported the newspaper Meie Maa. Sea-based cultural heritage structures were placed under protection in 1999, but work to preserve them has only been underway for about five years.
The National Heritage Board is most interested in finding archaic ships, not those that were sunk during the world wars.
The agency will comb the country's western coast, off of the islands, following the leads of historical sources and the accounts of fishermen who have found mysterious remains from their nets.
One specific sailboat, thought to be 300 years old and of unknown origin, is said to lie somewhere off the coast of the island of Ruhnu, according to a ship captain, who, whilst trawling some years ago, reeled in a wooden cannon carriage.
