Sunken Vessels in Alpine Lake Documented

Archaeology Magazine ^ | August 20, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Artnet reports that researchers seeking to comprehensively document shipwrecks in the alpine Lake Constance successfully recorded 31 sunken vessels. The lake borders Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The wide variety of wrecks highlights the body of water's important role as a nexus of regional trade as well as a spot for travel and leisure. The project, which was initiated by the State Office for Monument Preservation, used bathymetric mapping, side-scanning sonar, ROVs, and divers to carefully probe the 207-square-mile lake, which reaches depths of 800 feet. Among the highlights was a fully preserved cargo ship that still had its mast and yardarm intact, which researchers called a "rarity in underwater archaeology." Two other noteworthy finds are believed to be the wrecks of the pioneering paddle steamers, the SD Baden and the SD Friedrichshafen II, which ferried as many as 600 passengers each across the lake. The Baden was decommissioned in 1930 and eventually sank, while the Friedrichshafen II was destroyed in a World War II air raid. "Wrecks are far more than just lost vessels," said project researcher Alexandra Ulisch. "They are true time capsules that preserve the stories and craftsmanship of days long gone." To read about efforts to record World War I wrecks in the Irish Sea, go to "An Undersea Battlefield."

[SunkenCiv]

Sediment-covered deck of a fully preserved wooden cargo sailing ship on the bottom of Lake Constance, Germany

LAD im RPS/ISF der LUBW, Marcel Edel

[SunkenCiv]

[V_TWIN]

Didn’t the Germans hide gold and such in mountain lakes towards the end of WWII?.....I thought I read that somewhere.

[SunkenCiv]

Rings a bell... there was a wartime effort in Germany to counterfeit UK paper money to circumvent certain problems and undermine the £. A crapload of it was dumped in some lake near the war's end to dispose of the evidence, 'cause, y'know, counterfeiting is really naughty. ;^)

It seems as if there was a bunch of ill-gotten gold that a fugitive officer had to stash in a lake while making his escape to Switzerland. I think that's still lost.

And of course, this all with the usual 'if memory serves' proviso.

[Verginius Rufus]

Mostly between Germany and Switzerland, with a little bit at the eastern end bordering Austria. That part of Switzerland is German-speaking, so all the surrounding countries call it the Bodensee.