15th Century 'Sea Monster' Emerges from Baltic Sea

A sea monster made from wood has risen from the Baltic Sea in Scandinavia last Tuesday, August 11, where it was found lying on the seabed in a  town called Ronneby in Southern Sweden that was estimated to exist for more than 500 years.

The wooden sea monster appears like a bizarre, terrifying creature with lion ears and a mouth shaped like a crocodile's as this 660 pound figurehead used to stand majestically from a prow of a ship. This was also made from a carving of a 11 foot long beam.

Scientists from the Blekinge Museum believe that this was "monster" was a part of the Gribshunden, which is a 15th century warship that used to belong to Danish King Hans. The team found the sea relic during a salvage effort.

The ship apparently sunk in 1495 during a fire which was then anchored in Ronneby. The ship is designed similarly to the contemporary of Santa Maria, which is Christopher Columbus' flagship which is also considered to be the best well preserved sample of a 15th century ship. 

However, very few wrecks from that era can escape from inevitable weathering and destruction from sea worms.

According to Marcus Sandekjer who is the head of the Blekinge Museum, this figurehead is truly unique as there are no similar objects has been found anywhere dating back from the 15th century. 

The distinctly carved monster's main purpose was to frighten enemies at sea. According to Johan Rönnby who is a professor of maritime archaeology from the Södertörn University, it appears that this monster has something in its mouth which seems to be a person, like it's devouring somebody.

On the other hand, Sandekjer believes it appears to be a monster dog that can depict the "Grip Dog" from the name of the very ship, Gribshunden. Archaeologists are now hoping to bring more of the shipwreck back to the surface as this ship can hold clues to ship building methods back to the time when Columbus was sailing across the ocean.