Ilse 1929 steamer identification
In September 2024, together with Tomasz Stachura from Baltictech we had a chance to dive on an unknown wreck north of Władysławowo on -95 meters depth. The position had been on Tomasz's "to-check" list for a few years. When the day came, the weather was not perfect, so we weren't sure if we will be able to conduct the dive. Espace, the diving vessel, flew over the waves smoothly, and a few hours after setting off we arrived on the position. Multibeam imagery showed us a 50-meter-long object in shape of a ship, with high front and rear part. There was a risk that this may be just a not interesting fishing vessel, but we decided to go and check it.
After a long flight to the bottom, we almost immediately knew that it's something interesting - the shape, construction elements, artifacts - it all pointed that it's an old steamship. The wreck lies slightly inclined on its port side. Some 15-20 minutes into our dive, we decided to leave the stern part and spend the last minutes of our planned bottom time in the bow part. We passed big cargo holds in front of the superstructure, and headed forward. There were many parts of the ship strewn around the bow, and after filming it all, just before making the decision to start our way back to the surface, I spotted it - the ship's bell! It laid partially covered in mud on the deck, next to the board. After careful cleaning with hand, an inscription became visible - ILSE 1929. The whole decompression, that took over two hours, we spent thinking about the bell and the name - will we be able to trace the ship's origin and fate?
Identification was not easy, and there was not too much to be found in the Internet. With the help of other wreck passionates we finally managed to identify it - it was registered in Lloyd's Register as SOLSTAD III ex. ILSE, built in 1929 in Lödöse Varv for Swedish owner. It sank on October 15th 1940, northeast of Rozewie, Poland, due to a heavy storm that caused cargo displacement. All crew were saved by vessel "Ligur". And even some high quality photos showed up! See the gallery below for more photos of this amazing find.
