The remains of the Hetman Żółkiewski ship were found around 50 meters from the shore after researchers took sonar images revealing armored portholes and parts of the ship’s steam engine.
A nameplate confirmed that the ship, which was partially embedded in the riverbed, was the Hetman Żółkiewski and showed signs of an explosion.
Sławomir Kaliński from the Triglav Group which made the discovery said: “All the secrets of the Polish navy were sunk there so that they would not fall into the hands of the Germans.”
He added that he had begun searching for the wreck after being tipped off by a local historian who had collected accounts of soldiers from the early days of the war who said that they had sank military equipment to save it from the Germans.
Kaliński said that identifying the wreck took about three years due to the river’s shifting currents.
Documents uncovered by the Triglav Group indicate that the area, which was home to a fortress, held key naval depots during the war containing supplies like torpedoes and depth charges.
Kaliński said: "Hetman Żółkiewski was originally built in 1887 as the passenger ship ‘Henryk’ for river navigation on the Vistula, it was later sold to Russia, renamed ‘Zwiezda’ (Star), and used on the Prypiat River.
“It came into Polish hands in 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, when it was captured by Polish forces near Chernobyl.
“The vessel became part of Poland’s Pińsk Flotilla, a river fleet established to patrol and defend Poland’s eastern waterways.
“In 1922, it was reclassified as an armed tugboat and renamed ‘Hetman Żółkiewski.’
“It served in the Pińsk Flotilla until the early 1930s, after which it was assigned to the Bridge Battalion in Kazun, near Warsaw, until the war.”
The wreck has now drawn interest from the Polish Navy Museum, which hopes to recover and preserve elements from the shipwreck to expand its collection and share more about this often-overlooked part of Poland’s naval history.
