While conducting a routine measurement in the Trave river, the Kiel-Holtenau Waterways and Shipping Authority (Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt/WSA) discovered a ship at a depth of eleven meters. Researchers from Kiel University spent eight months examining the puzzling construction. The result: what they had found was a nearly 400-year-old ship from the Hanseatic period with 150 barrels on board—a unique find in the western Baltic region.