The Vasa Museum is absolutely incredible. If you are in Stockholm, YOU HAVE TO SEE IT. It was easily my favorite part of the trip. This ship is the only 17th century ship that we still have preserved. It is still 98% original and it was as amazing as the story behind it. Here's the story.
The Vasa was a Swedish warship built all the way back in 1626. The King commissioned the ship to be built during a war with the commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania.The commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania had captured their flagship and the Swedish King was not going to let that embarrassment go unnoticed. Obviously, he had to build something bigger and better to remind them who was boss. You see, back in those days, Sweden was known as a great naval power and the King wanted to keep it that way. The Vasa was meant to be a symbol of the Swedes power and wealth as well as a reminder they were a force to be reckoned with.
It took 1,000 oak tress to build this bad boy. It was 55 meters tall (180 ft.) and 63 meters (207 ft.) long. It was painted in the most vibrant reds, yellows, greens, blues and golds. There were hundreds of carvings all around the boat. Not only was the boat beautiful, but it was made to frighten the enemy. At this point there were only about three other ships in existence that had two cannon decks. Of course this ship had to have the best of the best so, two cannon decks were created with 32 cannons each. Twice the firepower meant twice the threat... Or at least that is what the Swedish King thought. Turns out that the most intimidating feature about the Vasa was also what caused it's downfall.
I don't know much about building boats, but I do know one thing. It is harder than it looks. Just like with constructing a house, specific weights and dimensions need to be followed or the boat will sink. That is what happened to the Vasa. The architects kept the same dimensions for the boat even though they added another whole firing deck. This made the boat very top heavy. The architects figured it out fairly early in the construction of the Ship, but they were on such a time crunch from the king that they couldn't go back and fix the ship. The King had been pretty impatient on the construction of the ship. Ships like the Vasa normally took about four years to construct. The King gave them two. He simply couldn't wait for the reveal of his great ship. Well I guess the jokes on him, because like I said before, this ship went down.
On the day of the ships launch, the King invited everyone to come. Nobles and ambassadors from all around were invited to see the launch of the great Vasa. When the Ship left the shore the 350 guests cheered and the 250 forced ship laborers went to work manning the boat. It was traditional back in those days to shoot off a canon as you left the harbor. This one cannoned salute wasn't good enough for our Swedish king. The king needed something bigger and better. He told them he wanted all 64 cannons to salute them as they left the harbor. The cannons were shot as the ship was leaving the harbor. Once the ship was outside of the bay, the wind started picking up. This is very bad news for a top heavy ship with all 64 cannon flaps open.
Water started coming into the ship once a big gust of wind started tipping it over. Within 45 minutes the lower gun ports were below water and water began rushing into the ship. The cannons were too heavy to move quickly enough, so within 20 minutes, the ship was completely underwater. Most of the crew survived about 30 people died.
The ship remained preserved so well because it was underwater and oxygen couldn't deteriorate it. It sat underneath the water until they finally had the technology to pull it up so many years later. I can't believe that the mistake of a pompous king hundreds of years ago allowed us to preserve such an amazing piece of history. It also makes me wonder about all the other artifacts under the sea that are just waiting for us to discover and preserve. You literally could be swimming in the bay and a giant old ship could be right underneath you. Think about that next time you swim in the ocean. I just had the most wonderful experience at the Vasa Museum. Go if you can. I know this turned into a whole history lesson on an old boat you never signed up for... but... oh well. This is my blog not yours.
This is what the ship would have looked like back in it's glory days. They were able to see what colors each carving was painting by the faint flecks of paint still on the wood.
I love you Vasa Ship. When I go to heaven, I am requesting one of my own.
XO Mikele
(Disclaimer: I got my information from a tour guide. He could have been pulling my tail the whole time and I wouldn't know the difference. He wore a fancy badge though... So I trust him)