'Princess Hedvig Sofia' and the Great Northern War

by Ralf Bleile, Joachim Kruger

On 25 April 1715, the Swedish Rear Admiral Carl Hans Wachtmeister scuttled his flagship Prinsessan Hedvig Sofia in the Baltic Sea off Bulk, after it had been badly damaged in a naval engagement off Femern during the course of the Great Northern War. In 2008, divers discovered the wreck and shortly afterwards underwater archaeologists were successful in identifying it. As a result, a window was opened into a past which had never had light cast on it in the Baltic region from an international perspective. In this volume accompanying the special exhibition Of Swords, Sails and Cannon - The Sinking of the Princess Hedvig Sofia, 37 contributions from authors from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Germany delve more deeply into the topics presented in the exhibition. The key areas are Baltic in change around 1700, Absolutism in the Baltic region, Shipping and naval warfare, Underwater cultural heritage, and The Great Northern War - memorial culture. In addition a German-language exhibition catalogue has appeared