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The Independent
7 days ago
- General
- The Independent
New legal protections to preserve WWI shipwrecks
New legal protections have been granted to the largest concentration of wrecked warships off the British coast at Scapa Flow, Orkney. This designation creates a Historic Marine Protected Area (MPA) for the site, which includes seven German High Seas fleet battleships scuttled in 1919 and over 90 other vessels. A second Historic MPA was also announced for the Queen of Sweden, an 18th-century Swedish East India Company ship that sank off the coast of Shetland. The new MPA status makes it an offence to remove anything from these wrecks, aiming to preserve what remains of several First World War vessels for future generations. The Scottish government announced these protections to safeguard nationally significant underwater heritage sites, which are popular with divers and contribute to local economies.
Times
11-08-2025
- Times
Sunken German fleet and Swedish sailing ship given protected status
Just as Scotland was reeling from the last Jacobite rebellion the flagship of the Swedish East India Company approached Shetland in a blizzard. The great Drottningen af Sverige was on her way to China to pick up tea and silk for the lucrative European market. She never made it, sinking off Lerwick in January 1745 as her captain tried to find shelter in Bressay Sound. Sailors on the ship, called Queen of Sweden in English, had already seen a sister vessel, the Stockholm, go down in the same high winds. Both crews somehow survived. The wreck of the Drottningen was partially salvaged as early as 1746 but she and her cargo remain one of the most important maritime history sites in British waters. So much so that the Scottish government on Monday declared the Drottningen to be one of Scotland's newest Historic Marine Protected Areas or MPAs.
