The Swiks

Swiks was an Åland three-masted schooner that sank off the northeastern tip of Öland on December 21, 1926. The shipwreck remains on the beach just inside the ...
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Swiks was an Åland three-masted schooner that sank off the northeastern tip of Öland on December 21, 1926. The shipwreck remains on the beach just inside the sinking site.

The ship and the seven-strong crew were on their way from Germany to the home port of Mariehamn for Christmas celebrations. She only had ballast on board, when a snowstorm forced the ship to attempt to round Öland's northern headland to seek shelter in the Kalmar Sound. The rounding attempt failed and the ship got stuck in the sand dunes that are just below the surface of the water. The crew was forced to abandon ship and save themselves ashore with the help of the lifeboat. Once ashore, they then wandered around the Trollskogen in the severe blizzard, before they reached a cabin in Grankulla, frozen stiff and difficult to carry.

Swiks was beached until a winter storm in the 1950s washed the ship ashore and she was broken in two. Parts from the stern can still be seen scattered along the beach. There on the beach she still lies, wind-swept and sun-bleached at the edge of the Troll Forest.
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