Helge (Frack)

12. 2021-06-22 D0818 Helge (Fråck)
12th dive of the trip.
Tuesday morning we headed far west towards the Swedish border to dive the wreck of Helge also known as Fråck. It is quite deep, bottom at 50 m, so this was the perfect time to use Trimix, which I had in my D12 tanks.
Keke joined me and Rupert for this dive and we planned to stay 20 min at the wreck. There was some surface current so the shotline went down in 45 degree angle, but the end was the wreck and the shot hand dropped on the ports side of the wreck near the intact part of the hull at rear end. Visibility was excellent but there was total darkness. We quickly dove to the stern and then back, on the way we saw the ships’s bell, the steering wheel, telegram and lots of details and artifacts. Mostly we were at 40 m depth on top of the deck. At 25 min we started ascending, did gas changes at 21 m, then long decos at 6 and 3 m. At 6 m we noticed that something strange was going on. Later we found at surface the buoy had detached, and a reel line was connected to it. Everyone managed to get on surface and back to Orbiit without issues.
Original plan was to dive Helge twice, but the plan was changed and we started to sail to Utö instead.
Helge was a steamship carrying cargo from Stockholm to Turku 22.4.1915 during WW1, when it was stopped by German U-boat U 26. The crew was allowed to abandon ship and start rowing towards land on lifeboats. The U-boat then scutteled the ship by exploding the rear part. The wreck was found in 2001.
Updated 2025-11-23 Place was Helge (Fråck)