Military Museum Blog: Royal Ship Vasa (1626), Stockholm, Sweden

The rediscovery and salvage of the Royal ship, Vasa, has been described as Sweden's Apollo project - a technical undertaking totally unprecedented in its day. The lessons learned from the Vasa salvage have informed all subsequent shipwreck preservation projects. Before we talk of the salvage we first need to go back in time to 1626.

In the 17th century Sweden was a rising power in the eastern Baltic, expanding into what is now Finland, the Baltic states, northern Poland and western Russia. In order to project Swedish imperial power, King Gustavus Augustus (1594-1632) commissioned the construction of a powerful new warship for the royal fleet. The new ship was of the most modern design, following the latest naval architecture developments from the Netherlands and France. The design and construction of the ship was contracted to Dutch shipwrights. As the Vasa was intended to be Royal flagship, no expense was spared on its construction and decoration. The stern especially featured intricately carved ornamentation, with painted and gilded statuary. The ship was armed with locally cast bronze cannons carried on two decks.

After two years of construction, the Vasa - named after the Swedish royal dynasty - was completed, fitted out and ready for her maiden voyage. In summer 1628, a stability trial was conducted in port, where thirty men ran from one side of the deck to the other to test the ship's roll. The test was stopped after it became apparent the ship was top heavy and struggled to right itself naturally. Adjustments were made to the ballast and rigging to reduce her propensity to roll.

On 14 August 1628, the Vasa set off on her maiden voyage from the royal dockyards, just to the north of the royal palace on Gamla Stan (the central heart of old Stockholm). The whole of the city came out to watch the ship make her way past the palace and onward to the outer harbor and the Baltic beyond. There was a gentle breeze and the Vasa set only four sails, but as she turned away from the harbor toward the east, a gust of wind filled the sails and she heeled over. She righted herself momentarily before rolling completely over and capsizing in full view of the crowds of onlookers. The Vasa's maiden voyage had taken her less than one and a half kilometres from the shipyard where she had been built.

Fortunately all but thirty of the crew were rescued from the shipwreck. The captain and officers however were immediately arrested and interrogated in order to determine who was to blame for the loss. Both the crew and the shipbuilders blamed each other but despite weeks of questioning, no one was ever held accountable. Study of the ship after it was raised revealed that the ship had been built too narrow, with too high a centre of gravity, making her highly unstable. Additionally, the lower row of gun ports were very close to the waterline when the ship was running with the wind. When she began to heel over under the wind, water rushed in through the open gun ports, much as happened with the Mary Rose nearly a century earlier. https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2022/01/mary-rose-1511-portsmouth-uk.html

Attempts were immediately made to raise the ship by specialist salvors bought in from Venice. The first attempt resulted in the ship being righted on the sea-floor. The ship's masts, rigging and deck cannons were then removed to reduce weight. Cables were run under the Vasa and connected to two hulks anchored above her. The hulks were then partially filled with water, tightening the cable and then the water pumped from the hulks. As the hulks rose in the water, it was expected the Vasa would be lifted off the sea-bed and then hauled to the surface. Unfortunately, the Vasa remained firmly sunk in the mud and refused to budge. After the failed lift, the salvage team turned to recovery of most of the ships guns. A second attempt to recover the remaining guns occurred in 1663. Plans to recover the ship were considered on and off right through into the late nineteenth century.

In the 1950s there was a push to locate and salvage the Vasa. Recent salvages of viking era ships had shown that wooden wrecks were exceptionally well preserved in Scandinavia's cold, oxygen-poor waters. The position of the Vasa was generally known, she was near the shore and not exceptionally deep. Amateur divers relocated the wreck in 1956 and a project commenced to raise her. After consideration of options, the plan was similar to those attempted in the 17th century. Cables would be slung under the Vasa's hull and connected to a barge anchored above the wreck. The gun-ports and other holes in the Vasa's hull were sealed up and the ship would slowly be winched towards the surface. To free the ship from the mud - which now buried much of the ship - tunnels were blasted through the mud under her hull using high-pressure water jets. The entire operation was extremely hazardous and required the salvage divers to conduct 1300 individual dives. In August 1959, the preparations were completed and lifing commenced. Slowly, inch by inch, the Vasa was lifted from the sea-bed. After each lift, the wreck was stabilized and slit pumped from the interior to reduce the ship's weight.

Gradually, the Vasa was lifted and transported towards the dry dock. The entire lifting operation took over a year and half until on 18 April 1961, the Vasa finally broke the surface after 333 years on the sea-floor.

Amazingly, once the water was pumped from the Vasa's hull, she was able to float on her own. She was floated into the dry-dock.

Once in the dry-dock the Vasa was propped up and the cleaning began. After 333 years under the water, the hull needed to be constantly hosed down to prevent it from drying out and rotting.

A postcard of the Vasa in her original open air drydock. The well-preserved condition of the ship's hull is obvious.

It was clear that the preservation of the Vasa could not be completed in an open air drydock. A temporary enclosure was built over the drydock, but this made both preservation and viewing difficult. A special restoration facility and museum was constructed in the late 1980s. The Vasa was transferred to the museum in 1988. The Vasa Ship Museum was opened to the public in 1990.

The Vasa ship has now been completely restored. The ship is in amazing condition. The one complaint I have about the museum is that it is fairly cramped and difficult to get a good photograph of the whole ship. It is also rather dark inside - a necessity to prevent decomposition of the Vasa's wooden timbers - adding to the challenge. These photos were taken in 2015. I'm sure the quality would be better with a better camera.

There are three viewing decks that allow visitors to view the ship from all angles. This is a view down onto the main deck. The main deck timbers are not original.