Gloskär

The interesting thing about Gloskär is what is missing. A small wooden motorboat lies on sand and rock about ten metres off the west end of Märagrundet skerry, south of Hankoniemi peninsula. The hull is roughly six metres today, was measured at eight in the 1996 record, and carries no ship name, no build year, and no recorded sinking event in any source consulted. The bow stem stands separately in line with the stern deck, the port side has fallen open to expose the interior, and rib arches sit at the base of the stem. The wreck itself runs from one metre down to five; the bottom around the skerry slopes to about nine, so a scuba plan covers the timbers and the nearby slope on a relaxed bottom time.

Gloskär's distinguishing feature is that it is a Heritage-Agency-registered shallow wreck without an identity. The Agency records the vessel as a 20th-century wooden motorboat, probably pine with copper-nailed joints, and the Finnish wreck-divers' catalogue carries the same reading from the same 1990s source. Neither knows what ship this was. The site sits south of Hankoniemi, outside the Russarö Defence Forces protection zone, and no military permit applies. Plan it as a short shallow pause on a multi-dive Hanko day rather than as a stand-alone target.

Cold water is the dominant constraint at this depth: bottom temperatures stay below 18 °C even in August at five to ten metres. Drysuit is the standard from May through October; a 7 mm full wetsuit is the warmer-month option for cold-tolerant divers. Visibility is the variable that decides the dive — the only first-hand record here is 1 m on a mid-August afternoon, so check conditions on arrival and carry a primary torch even in summer daylight. Buoyancy matters even at four metres, since a single fin kick at the wreck can erase visibility for the rest of it. The Antiquities Act is categorical: no touching, no lifting, no anchoring on the wreck or surrounding seabed. SMB on ascent is standard for the south-coast boat traffic.