Stora Ekön

The island Stora Ekön is one of the highlights of the Ronneby archipelago and was previously the site of the town’s pilot station. It has a small harbour, large lawns, barbecue sites, swimming and amazing views from the highest point of the island. There are also composting toilets run by the municipality. In recent years, Stora Ekön has attracted extra attention thanks to the acclaimed find of the wreck of the Gribshunden. A Danish naval vessel of the carrack type, 35 metres long and about 12 metres wide, it was being sailed by King John of the Kalmar Union when it foundered off Stora Ekön in 1495. The crew and soldiers amounted to about 150 people. The ship has been well preserved by the waters of the Baltic Sea and today is the only archaeological find of its kind. In August 2015, the ship’s figurehead was salvaged, which is not a figurehead in the sense we might think, but was part of the ship’s construction, the end of which is visible at the far end of the bows in the form of a sculptured head of an imaginary monster. Source: Blekinge Museum, and others