Makalös, the 450-year-old warship on the ocean floor

Seventy-five meters beneath the Baltic Sea, off Öland on the southeastern coast of Sweden, the strikingly preserved 450 year old remains of the warship Mars, also called Makalös, meaning “peerless” or “magnificent” – offer a veritable time capsule for naval archeologists.

The vessel was lost during the First Battle of Öland, her stored gunpowder exploding after catching fire and causing her foundering with the loss of most of the 700 aboard on the 31st of May, 1564. This skirmish marked one of the first recorded instances in which naval vessels of any nation combatted each other using primary fire power alone rather than hand to hand engagement following the boarding an enemy ship.

Note both the diver for scale, and several cannons still laying among her timbers. Discovered on the sea floor in 2011, Mars is widely believed today to be among the best preserved warships of her era remaining on the bottom.