On March 28, 2000, the Martina was heading south from Sarpsborg in Norway towards Copenhagen with a cargo of hydrochloric acid. There was dense fog and snowfall and visibility was estimated at about 300 m. On the opposite course was the container ship M/S Werder Bremen. The ships were on course to pass starboard to starboard about half a nautical mile apart, but suddenly the Martina made an unexpected turn and the Werder Bremen, which did not have time to turn away, drove straight into the Martina, which split just before the bridge at 10 o’clock in the morning. Only the cook and one of the sailors survived. Five crew members died. Those who survived were lucky enough to quickly get out of the ship and jump overboard. The Östhammar, a Swedish ship participating in an exercise nearby, was quickly on site and managed to pick up the two crew members after they had been in the water for 20 minutes. Otherwise, they would not have survived long in the cold water.

The five crew members who did not manage to get out of the ship in time were rescued from the wreck two months later. The stern now rests keel-side down at a depth of about 24 m with a minimum diving depth of about 17 m.
The growth on the wreck is noticeable, but you can still read the ship’s name on the stern if you take a closer look. Inside the ship, it is clean of vegetables and there are many places you can swim through and peek. For example, there is a large corridor from starboard to port and when you swim through here, you can, if you do not go straight through, choose to go aft or forward and peek into the saloon, among other things. There is a lot of debris in the spaces and also some cables. There are stairs down to the lower deck.