The wreck of a Polish navy ship, possibly intentionally sunk during World War II to prevent it from falling into Nazi hands, has been discovered by amateur divers.
The ship, Hetman Żółkiewski, was found in the Narew River near Modlin Fortress, just outside Warsaw, a site where Polish forces made their last stand in 1939.
Divers from the Triglav Exploration and Prospecting Group (GEPST) identified the wreck after using sonar to locate six submerged ships.
The wreck was confirmed on October 5, when diver Artur Sobczak discovered a nameplate from the ship's steam boiler. See the picture below.
Photo: Grupa Eksploracyjno Poszukiwawcza Triglav on YouTube
A Piece of Poland’s Past
According to an article by NFP, The Hetman Żółkiewski was built in 1887 and had a long history.
Originally used as a passenger and cargo vessel under the name Henryk, it sailed along the Vistula river before being sold to Russia, where it was renamed Zwiezda.
In 1920, Polish forces captured the vessel during the Polish-Soviet War, later converting it into an armed tugboat for use at Modlin Fortress.
Before being sunk, the Hetman Żółkiewski served as a floating barracks after receiving a steam engine and a new name, Gwiazda ("Star" in Polish). It played a key role in Poland’s river flotilla during the interwar period and served Polish forces stationed at Modlin Fortress until the outbreak of the war in 1939.
Hard to Recover
The discovery took the GEPST team around three years due to the shifting conditions of the Narew river. Sławomir Kaliński, one of the lead divers, explained that the river’s unpredictable water levels and moving riverbed made the search difficult.
Even though the wreck is an important find, retrieving the ship will be tough. It’s buried under four meters of sand and gravel. The Polish Naval Museum is interested in artifacts from the ship, but fully raising the wreck might not be possible.
The ship shows signs of an explosion, but the details of its sinking aren’t fully known. The divers believe the Hetman Żółkiewski was likely one of many ships intentionally sunk by Polish forces to stop it from falling into enemy hands.
