PREVIEW

A team of Polish divers have discovered a shipwreck with a very special cargo - champagne that may have been bound for a Tsar’s table. Divers from Baltictech Team led by Tomasz Stachura made a remarkable discovery in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish coast, uncovering the 19th-century shipwreck brimming with historical treasures, including crates of champagne, baskets of mineral water and porcelain. "The whole wreck is loaded to the brim with crates of champagne, mineral water, and procelane," said Tomasz Stachura, diver and leader of the Baltictech Team. The divers reported finding around 100 champagne and mineral water bottles among the items. "I have been diving for 40 years, and it often happens that there is one bottle or two... but to discover a wreck with so much cargo, it's a first for me," Stachura added. The discovery, made about 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers) south of the Swedish island of Öland, was largely a coincidence. According to the team’s preliminary research, the ship may well have been en route to Russia and stocked with luxury items for Tsar Alexander II, including bottles from Louis Roederer, a renowned Reims, France champagne house founded in 1776. The divers are currently seeking permission to extract some of the bottles and send them to the winemaker to assess their value and determine if the Champagne is still drinkable.