Arrow 1 points to the aft end of the side house area in way of frame 139. From here the car deck had its full width from side to side because the forward end of the centre casing was located ca. 19 frame spaces = ca. 15 m, further aft.

Arrow 2 points to the fender bar and

arrow 3 to the suspected hole.

The right photo shows the forward part of the fender bar (see arrow 1). The underside of the fender bar as well as the complete underwater ship were painted blue. The upper side of the fender bar and the hull and the superstructures were painted white.

Arrow 2 points to the upper limit of the ice-strengthened part of the hull (28 mm steel).
By means of these marks the location of the cave in the sand and the possible hole below the fender bar have been ascertained with sufficient certainty. The viewing of further video footage which was produced during the sand-fill operation in May/June 1996 by the contractor Van der Oort, Rotterdam revealed that they had actually focused on the foreship and dropped thousands of tons of small stones and sand around the foreship of the wreck.

This was done in spite of the repeated assurances of Johan Fransson of Sjöfartsverket that the wreck would remain untouched. The drawings on the next page show the sand-fill operation.