Vasa (1628) Vasa (1628)Vasa had the shortest career of almost any warship. Built by the Royal Dockyard in Stockholm in 1628, the 64-gun vessel sank on its very first voyage, only a few minutes after departure.
The discovery of Vasa’s wreck, its recovery and preservation, have made it the longest-lived of seventeenth-century men of war, a treasury of artefacts and information relating to naval technology and life at the time. Vasa, or Wasa, was the surname of the Swedish kings, and the ship was commissioned for one of the greatest, Gustavus Adolphus, who in 1628 was deeply involved, with his army, in warfare in Germany.
The hull of the Vasa is preserved in a specially-constructed museum building, with a temperature- and moisture-controlled environment to keep the timbers from drying out. Archaeological work on the ship and its contents is still ongoing.
As one aspect of the wide-ranging Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) Sweden was at war with Poland, and mounting a naval blockade of the city of Danzig (Gdansk). Vasa’s first mission was to join this blockading force. On the first stage of its journey from Stockholm on 10 April 1628, there was a party atmosphere, with women and children as guests on board for the trip out of the bay. The wind was so light that Vasa was warped out of the harbour, winding itself along an anchored line dropped from a longboat. Sail was set as occasional gusts of wind came, and one of these suddenly laid the ship over, allowing water to flow in through open gun-ports, and it promptly sank, drowning some 50 of the 250 people on board.
Salvage efforts followed, and most of the guns were retrieved in 1663–64. But it was only in the 1950s that it became technically possible to raise the hull, lodged in mud at a depth of 35m (115ft), and on 24 April 1960 it was brought to the surface and transferred to a dry-dock and then to a specially-constructed building. The ship had been designed by a Dutch builder, Henrik Hybertson de Groot (the Dutch were celebrated ship-builders). Just like Henry Grace à Dieu, a hundred years earlier, it was not just a fighting platform, but a proclamation of national and royal prestige and splendour. Sculptures and carvings adorned it in profusion, on classical and Biblical themes intended to reflect glory on the house of Vasa, and gilded or brightly painted. A great range of artefacts necessary to stock and operate a big warship were also recovered, ranging from entire sails, items of rigging, ropes and steering gear, to the clothes and personal property of the crew, wooden and pewter plates, drinking vessels, sewing kits, clothes packed in chests, belts and shoes. Over four thousand copper coins were found on board. The chill Baltic waters preserved most items except those of ferrous metal, which were almost completely rusted away.
Vasa was a three-masted ship, and examination of the wreck showed that the mainmast was raked back some 9 degrees and the deck had a considerable slope: proving aspects of contemporary design previously seen only in drawings and paintings. Despite the height of the hull, with a quarter-deck 20m (65ft) above the waterline, it carried only 109 tonnes (120 tons) of stone ballast, and the inherent instability of the vessel was suspected as soon as it was launched. But Sweden was short of large ships, having lost numerous vessels during the period of Vasa’s construction in storms and in the Battle of Oliwa (1627) fought in the Southern Baltic Sea against a Polish fleet; and with letters from the King insisting on early completion, the building and fitting out were done in a hurry. Hybertson had died in the early stages of construction, and there was mutual blaming between the naval authorities and the builders. The comparative narrowness of the hull in relation to its length was commented on, but the length had been set by the King, whom no one dared to criticise. To sail the ship with its lower gun-ports open, when instability had already been identified, seems a foolish action of the captain, Söfring Hansson, but he was not censured. In the end, a court of inquiry assigned no blame to anyone, and the disaster was treated as an ‘Act of God’.
Vasa’s guns
Specifications for Vasa’s armament were changed during the years of construction, and a variety of English names, translated from Swedish, have been applied to the different types of gun. Vasa was probably the best-armed warship of the period, although modern analysis suggests that their bronze was not of the best quality. In 1626, 72 24-pounder bronze cannon were ordered for it, and it is likely that this number required revision of the design to build a second gun deck not allowed for in the original plan. Eventually Vasa carried only 64 carriage-mounted guns, with 48 24-pounders, arranged in 24 on each gun deck, 10 lighter cannon and 6 guns of mortar type, firing large explosive shells ranging in weight from 7.25 to 28kg (16 to 62lb). At a time when men of war tended to carry a variety of guns, some of them having seen service in successive ships, Vasa’s artillery was of relatively standardised type. During 1663–64, 53 guns, weighing up to 1.36 tonnes (1.5 tons) each, were salvaged from the wreck, and sold in Germany.
Specification
Dimensions |
Length 69m (226ft), Beam 11.7m (38ft 3in), Draught 4.9m (15ft 4in) |
Displacement |
6682 long tons (6789t) |
Propulsion |
3 masts, square rig on fore and main, lateen mizzen |
Armament |
48 24-pounder, 8 3-pounder, 2 1-pounder, 1 16-pounder, 2 62-pounder, 3 35-pounder guns |
Complement: |
145 crew, 300 soldiers |
Vasa had been intended as the first of five capital ships. Four others of similar design, but of longer life followed: Applet, Kronan, Scepter and Göta Ark. These served satisfactorily into the 1660s, and it may be assumed that some modifications were made to improve their stability (Applet had a slightly broader beam of 13.18m (43ft 3in). Though Sweden was a comparatively rich country, the cost of 40,000 thalers for each ship was a heavy one.
