The Vasa

I hope you remembered the name Vasa from my last post because here is where it will apply. If you recall, the first king of Sweden was named Gustav Vasa. Gustav Augustus Vasa if you really want to know. Well, he had a battleship built for him in 1628. Not just any battleship, a ship that was the first of it's kind. It was built to carry 300 men, 65 cannons, hundreds or ornate sculpures decorated it's exterior. It was built to intimidate as well as impress it's foes. This ship was built to dominate the seas. Sweden used 1/3 of it's money per year for 6 years to build it.

Unfortunately, it never made it into battle. In fact, it sank 1500 metres outside of it's port in Stockholm Harbor. A combination of the captain's pride and the King's arrogance resulted in the most expensive ship of it's time to sink without ever making it to sea.

3 things caused it's demise. 1) It was built top heavy 2) Round stones were used as ballast instead of flat stones and 3) The captain set sail with all gun ports open. The ship was also so heavy (2500 TONS) that once it was in the water, the waterline was almost to the lower gunports. Any large wave would result in the ship taking on water. As soon as the ship left port, a gust of wind toppled the ship. The crew was able to right the ship but the round stones used for ballast had already started to shift to port side and water was already entering through the gun ports. A second gust of wind caused the ship to completely capsize. The entire ship sank in less than 10 minutes in 90 feet of water. Only 30-50 people lost their lives but it was an embarrassing event for the King who was in Poland at the time fighting for Swedish Independence.

The Vasa lay in the harbor for 333 years until it was raised in 1961 and restored. It is Sweden's largest attraction with over 3500 visitors DAILY. The Royal Palace gets 3000.

Random fact: The "Flying Dutchman" from the Pirates of the Carribbean movies is based on the Vasa and you can see the similarities in their designs.

I knew of the Vasa prior to arriving and was looking forward to viewing it in person. What I did not realize was how BIG it really is. It's enormous. The masts alone are 150 feet and the ship is probably another 60-70. It's a jaw dropping sight. On the other hand. It's tiny inside. They recreated the main gun deck that you can walk through and it's probably 4 and a half feet tall. I had to duck quite a bit to move around. Definitely not a comfortable environment.

The museum features the ship, relics recovered, several skeletons, and an exhibit recreating what life in 1630's Sweden would have been like. It was not a time I could have wanted to live in. Plague and disease ravaged the population and those who survived were victims of malnutrition, poor medical care, and poverty.
Just to give an idea of size, the second to last picture shows the ship next to 3 FLOORS out of 4 in the museum. And in the last picture, if you click on it and expand it, you can see a man in a red shirt off to the left. You can't even see him in the regular picture.

The Vasa is definitely the most amazing thing I've seen so far on this trip.