History

Built in 1896
Jönköping was built at Sjötorp's shipyard in 1896. She was built as a schooner 20.5 metres long and 6.67 metres wide and equipped with an 18 hp oil engine. She had several different owners before she came to Gävle in 1916 where she immediately began to ply between Gävle in Sweden and Rauma in Finland. She was probably used mostly for carrying contraband, a very lucrative business during the First World War.

The last trip
On the 26 October 1916 Jönköping was loaded and ready to make her tenth voyage to Rauma that year. The crew consisted of the captain, E B Eriksson, who was also one of the owners, and four others.

When Jönköping left Gävle her cargo included iron goods such as nuts, bar iron and h-hooks , but the main part of the cargo consisted of cognac, wine and champagne for the Russian tsar: 50 cases of champagne, 17 barrels of wine and 67 barrels of cognac. The weight of the cargo was 96 tons, of which 60.5 tons was wine and spirits.

Bad weather
After just a few hours, however, the voyage was interrupted by bad weather that forced Jönköping to drop anchor and lie in the roads for a few days. Her subsequent failure to return to Gävle on time ironically started a rumour that a German U-boat had sunk her, a rumour that would soon turn out to be prophetic. By 2 November the weather had improved considerably and the captain and his crew continued their voyage to Rauma.

U-22
Early in the morning of 3 November 1916 the German submarine U-22 was lying 12 nautical miles south-west of Rauma. The day before, Commander Bruno Hoppe and his crew had been very successful in sinking two Swedish ships. Now Hoppe had decided to wait in the channel to Rauma to control passing ships for contraband. The sun had not yet risen but the lookout could see about 8 nautical miles through the light dawn mist. At 05.00 he suddenly heard a very faint sound. It was the sound of an engine. The commander was called up to the lookout and he decided immediately that they should investigate. U-22 left her position and went towards the sound that came from the west.

An islet in the fog
The night had been calm and peaceful for Jönköping. They had completed their voyage over the Gulf of Bothnia without any problems. Because of the twilight and the mist they could not see the coast of Finland yet. They were cruising off Rauma, waiting for daylight. Suddenly they spotted an islet and, thinking they had came too close to land, turned Jönköping towards open water again. They soon became aware, however, that the islet was not what it seemed - it was the German submarine!

No way out
Commander Hoppe ordered E B Eriksson to stop the engine and board the submarine to show the ship's papers and declare her cargo. Hoppe soon became aware that the cargo contained contraband. He told Eriksson that the ship had to be sunk. Eriksson tried every possible way to save his ship. He suggested that he should throw the cargo overboard, he even offered to sail the cargo to the nearest German harbour. Eriksson would do anything to save his ship. Hoppe, however, had already made up his mind: since this was Jönköping's tenth voyage this year transporting contraband, Hoppe told Eriksson that enough was enough - Jönköping had to be sunk.

Some bottles were saved
Two crewmen from U-22 rowed over to Jönköping with two explosive charges. They put one in the bow and the other in the engine room. While they were doing this a steamer approached from the south. Hoppe ordered the crew of Jönköping and his own two men who were on board Jönköping to row over to the submarine immediately. Hoppe wanted to catch up with the steamer, which by this time had worked out what was going on and was trying to escape. In great haste the two crewmen from U-22 took as many bottles of champagne as they could before they left Jönköping. Except for the few bottles they could take in their arms the whole cargo went down with the ship.

Fifteen minutes later Commander Hoppe also managed to stop the escaping steamer, Ägir. After a further 45 minutes, at 07.00, Ägir was also sunk after it too was found to have contraband on board. After sinking four boats within 24 hours, Hoppe was now satisfied. He handed over the two Swedish crews that he had taken on board during the early morning hours to another Swedish ship that had no contraband in its cargo.

Link to wine recovery story 1
Link to wine recovery story 2