1997 - the largest exploration expedition up till now

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A sailors' souvenir from the Ost-indien

The wreck of the St. George is now under so rapid destruction that we are racing with time and the forces of the sea to salvage the last items. For this reason, the largest expedition up till now took place during 4 weeks in the summer of 1997. This was made possible thanks to the financial support form the Municipality of Ulfborg-Vemb, The County of Ringkøbing, Plan Danmark, the Ulfborg-Vemb Tourist Association together with a number of private foundations and organisations as well as private sponsors.

In spite of the poor visibility and days with bad weather where diving was impossible, a considerable number of finds were retrieved from the hold - more than a thousand items were recovered. The finds are plenty and varied - skeletons, porcelain, bottles, binoculars, signal guns, gun carriages, cannon ball measurers, jewellery, coins - also gold, jewellery boxes, buckets, barrels, teapots, candlesticks, textiles, etc. Of special interest were among other things an officers hat, 2 gold coins and a small Ost-indian wooden figure - obviously male with a remarkable and movable attribute.

One of the guns from the wreck One of the gold coins in a purse

The skull of a drowned sailor

The exploration of the ship wreck enjoyed extensive interest from the media. The local TV station, TV Midt-Vest brought daily transmissions from the expedition, and the two national stations DR1 and TV2 also covered the event. Both local and national newspapers wrote articles about the expedition and the history of the ship. The finds were shown to the public in the Thorsminde Auction Hall where more 1000 persons came to see them.

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