This may not be from our period, but it’s remarkable nevertheless, if only for revealing just how well the most unlikely of treasures can survive under the sea. For over 300 years in this case.
In 1724 the German vessel “Archangel Raphael” sank off the coast of the Gulf of Finland. She was supposedly on an innocent, completely legitimate voyage from St Petersburg to Lübeck. Except, she was actually up to her gunwales in smuggling!
When her wreck was discovered, it wasn’t imagined how many exciting things she was still hiding, but to me the most wonderful of all was a German Psalter. It was so well protected that it was still in good condition, completely legible, and is now being fully restored.
It seems that the sludge at the bottom of the cold Baltic had prevented oxygen from being available to microbes and so on, so the pages remained intact.
If only we could be so blessed with the North Sea and the other seas around Britain! But our waters aren’t so forgiving.
To read more about this remarkable wreck and its treasures, go here, here and here.
The New Murrey and Blue blog 
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