The construction and salvage of the Vasa

Gustav II Adolf, not yet 17 years old, inherited the crown of Sweden in 1611, but also three wars, with Sweden striving for control over the Baltic Sea in conflict with Russian, Polish and Danish interests, and also with the Habsburg Empire during the Thirty Years´ War, 1618-1648. The king took a personal interest in the building and arming of warships for his navy, and ordered four ships in 1625 from Henrik and Arendt Hybertsson, Dutch shipwrights who held the contract for the operation of the state shipyard at Skeppsgården (now Blasieholmen in Stockholm).  The two larger of these were two-deckers, and the first was laid down early in 1626.  This, later named Vasa, was launched in 1627 and outfitted the following year with what was then the most powerful armament carried by any ship in northern Europe.  The ship lacked stability, and on its maiden voyage on 10 August 1628, heeled over in a gust and sank in Stockholm harbour (Hocker 2004).

The Vasa's three journeys:  1. In August 10, 1628, the ship was warped from the old Royal Palace Tre Kronor to the present Slussen, where four sails were set. After a short cruise the Vasa capsized and sank at 32 m depth about 100 m outside the island of Beckholmen.  2. At the salvage in 1961 the hull was brought to Gustav V's dry dock on Beckholmen, placed on a pontoon, covered and subjected to 17 years of conservation treatment in the temporary Wasa Museum, Wasavarvet.   3. In December 1988 the pontoon was towed to the permanent Vasa Museum, inaugurated in 1990.

The stern of the Vasa after the salvage Photos: the Vasa Museum

 Early attempts to raise the Vasa failed, but brought the hull to an upright position. Most of the bronze cannons were recovered in 1664-1665 in a remarkable diving operation led by Hans Albrecht von Treileben. Then the wreck was largely forgotten until relocated by Anders Franzén in 1956. The hull surfaced in April 24, 1961, after 333 years on the seabed (Fälting 1961). Many deck planks of the upper deck were missing, probably to give access to the cannons below (Kvarning 1972). Over the years many anchors caught the hull, and several  exposed deck beams were broken. The galleries and most sculptures, fastened by corroding iron bolts, probably fell down into the anoxic silt layer on the seafloor at an early stage and were thereby well preserved. The stern had suffered severe mechanical damage, but in the Vasa Museum about 13 500 original parts were restored to the hull. The ship is about 95% original with oak as the principal material (about 90%), and also with some pine, alder and lime (Gröndal 2002, Soop 1978).