June 2-6, 2013 We are in Stockholm, Sweden
The Swedish navy passed a law saying that bread brought aboard a ship in the 1600's could not be older than three years. Rick Steves states in his Stockholm Travel Guide that although the reasons the Vasa sank 20 minutes into her maiden voyage may not be exactly known, it is thought the ship was top heavy and he muses that heavy bread may have been the reason!
The Vasa Museum
The Vasa was on display as she left Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage. She has two decks of guns mounts and all the doors were opened, as gun salutes had been given. A wind pushed her to one side and water flooded into the open gun mount doors. She sank quickly.
The Vasa Museum is a maritime museum in Stockholm, It displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun ship Vasa, which sank on it's maiden vogage in 1628 and was salvaged in 1961.Wikipedia
The Salvage
The Vasa lay at a depth of 32 meters. The navy’s heavy divers were able to cut six tunnels through the clay under the ship with special water jets. Steel cables were drawn through the tunnels and taken to two lifting pontoons on the surface, which would pull the ship free of the harbour bottom’s grip.
The day that Vasa was scheduled to break the water, all of Sweden held its breath. Newspapers, radio and TV from all over the world were there, and Swedish TV made its first live broadcast to Europe.
At 9:03 AM on the 24th of April, 1961, Vasa returned to the surface.
Just seven months after the salvage, the Wasa Shipyard opened as a provisional museum. The ship and all of the smaller finds were conserved, partly as a great experiment. Nothing like it had been attempted before.
For 17 years, Vasa was sprayed with polyethylene glycol, PEG – a chemical compound that replaces the water in waterlogged wood to prevent shrinkage and cracking. The current Vasa Museum opened in 1990. http://www.vasamuseet.se
The Swedish navy passed a law saying that bread brought aboard a ship in the 1600's could not be older than three years. Rick Steves states in his Stockholm Travel Guide that although the reasons the Vasa sank 20 minutes into her maiden voyage may not be exactly known, it is thought the ship was top heavy and he muses that heavy bread may have been the reason!
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| The masts are the height of the Vasa's masts |
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| These are replicas of carvings on the ship. |
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| The Vasa is 95-98% original. Lighter wood indicates reproductions |
The Royal Armory
The Royal Armoury is the oldest museum in Sweden, established in 1628 by King Gustav II Adolph when he decided that his clothes from his campaign in Poland should be preserved.
Located in the cellars of the Royal Palace in Stockholm, the Swedish Royal Armoury shows the history of Sweden’s kings and queens from Gustav Vasa (1496-1560) until to day through arms and armours, robes from royal weddings and coronations in addition to several exquisite state coaches from the 17th and 18th centuries.
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| Would look more complete with a head! |
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| The Royal Sleigh |
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