Building the Russian Monitor Ship Rusalka
The Russian monitor ship Rusalka, built in the 1860s, was a Charodeika-class warship serving the Imperial Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet. This photograph from 1868 shows Rusalka at the Hietalahti Shipyard in Helsinki, one year before its launch in 1869. The ship met a tragic end in 1893 when she sank during a storm in the Gulf of Finland while en route from Tallinn to Helsinki, resulting in the loss of all 177 crew members.
Rusalka's wreck was reportedly located by the Soviet EPRON salvage agency in 1932, but no salvage attempts were made. However, the exact location was disputed until 2003. That year, a joint effort by the Estonian Maritime Museum and the diving company Tuukritööde OÜ successfully found Rusalka's wreck, 25 kilometers south of Helsinki. This discovery, made by the research vessel Mare, confirmed the ship's final resting place 110 years after it sank.
Original Photograph
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Digitally Restored Photograph
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Photo Information
Original photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency
Photographer: Unknown
Year: 1868
Link to original photo here
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