Tjurkö Ship Cemetery

These rusting boats in the archipelago outside of the southern Swedish city of Karlskrona have become a destination for people looking for something off the beaten path. But the future of the ship cemetery has been discussed at great lengths over the years.

On the far end of the island of Tjurkö, seen from the bridge connecting it to the neighboring islands and mainland, there are a few ships lying around rusting away in the water. These ships once took passengers to and from islands in the Karlskrona archipelago, but at some point in the 1960s and 1970s, they were left to slowly rust away.

The location has since become a destination for photographers and tourists looking for attractions off the beaten path, but the existence of the ship cemetery has been questioned on numerous occasions. The landowner was ordered to remove the boats in 2006 but that never happened.

Although the cultural-historical value of the ships is seen as low, some argued that they could become a destination on the island of Tjurkö. In 2019, the ships were allowed to remain for the foreseeable future.