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The Porcelain Wreck:
Treasures from the Deep

Six hundred metres below the surface of the Skagerrak lies the Porcelain Wreck — a remarkably well-preserved merchant vessel from the 18th century. This summer, you have a rare opportunity to see artefacts brought straight up from the seabed — before the long work of conservation and research begins.

Six hundred metres below the surface of the Skagerrak lies the Porcelain Wreck — a remarkably well-preserved merchant vessel from the 18th century. This summer, you have a rare opportunity to see artefacts brought straight up from the seabed — before the long work of conservation and research begins.

Norsk Maritimt Museum
02. – 21. Jun 2026
Included in admission
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    Sindre Kinnerød/Flash studio

The Porcelain Wreck is an extraordinarily well-preserved merchant ship resting on the ocean floor. Its depth of 600 metres makes the find exceptionally rare — there are no comparable projects this deep anywhere in Northern Europe. The wreck lies like an almost untouched time capsule, set to provide valuable new knowledge about Norwegian and Northern European maritime history.

The museum's marine archaeologists have recovered artefacts from the wreck as part of a preliminary survey. Where did the ship come from? Who was on board? And where was it headed with its precious cargo?

We call it the Porcelain Wreck because the first things we found were large quantities of porcelain. Since then, we have also recovered parts of chandeliers, stemmed glasses and barrels of grain. Some crates appear to contain textiles, tea, herbs and medicine. Much still lies undisturbed on the seabed.

This summer at the museum, you can see some of the artefacts recovered from the deep — and learn more about this remarkable find.