A ship for the king
64gunswere carried by the Vasa, many of them bronze
King Gustavus Adolphus had the Vasa built from 1626 for his war against Poland-Lithuania. Close to 500 sculptures decorated the ship. When completed, it was one of the most heavily armed ships in the world.
Your guess
In 1628, 30 men ran back and forth across the deck to test stability. What happened?
1,300 metres
On 10 August 1628 the Vasa set off, its gunports open for a salute. A gust pushed it onto its side; a second, stronger one let water pour in through the lower gunports. After about 1,300 metres it sank, only 120 metres from shore. About 30 people are said to have died.
333 years later
In 1956 the amateur archaeologist Anders Franzén tracked down the wreck. He had bet that the shipworm, which otherwise quickly eats sunken wood, is absent from the cold Baltic. In 1961 the Vasa was raised with its hull largely intact. Over 45 million people have seen it since.
Deep dive
Too much weight up top
The Vasa was dangerously unstable: there was too much weight in the upper hull. More ballast couldn't fix that; it might have needed a fundamental redesign. The theory of shipbuilding was still poorly understood at the time, and safety margins were far below what would be acceptable today. Two gun decks made the compromise between seaworthiness and firepower even harder.
Continues in the app
- Two kinds of feet, one list
- A king in a hurry
- Treasure in the mud
- Acid in the wood
- Quiz with 3 questions
- 3 key points to keep
