What Sunk the Vasa?

On the island of Djurgården, in Stockholm, there’s a strange building. Three masts stick out from the top of the roof as if they expect to one day take the whole thing out for a spin on the Baltic.

This is Vasamuseet, or the Vasa museum, and the final resting place of one of history’s greatest nautical follies.

In the early 17th century, the Swedish navy consisted of some relatively small ships which didn’t exactly fill their enemies with fear. King Gustav II Adolf wanted to show Poland who the masters of the sea were so he ordered the construction of a fleet of large warships, the Vasa being the first.

She was built between 1626 and 1628 and was designed to be the 17th century equivalent of a floating Death Star. With 48 massive cannons and plenty of biblical and mythological imagery carved into the hull, little doubt remained as to the intention.

If the King wanted to send a message to his foes, it wouldn’t be written in a sentence, just one enormous full stop blasting through the side of their ship.

When the day arrived to send her out to sea, the King was out of the country and nobody wanted to be the first to suggest postponing it - he needed that boat out there yesterday and he wasn’t interested in structural problems.

With the first gust of wind, the ship heeled (that’s ‘tipped over’ to us landlubbers) dramatically to the side.

Teething problems, surely.

The crew managed to right her before another gust sent it rocking again. This time, they wouldn’t be so lucky.

Water poured into the open gun ports and by that stage, it was game over for the Vasa.

The pride of the Swedish Navy sank to the bottom of the sea less than a nautical mile from where she was launched, killing somewhere between 30 and 50 people and there she stayed for over 300 years.

The ship was raised in 1961 and towed to harbour where efforts were made to restore it. Now, in 2010, you can go to the Vasa Museum and see the leviathan for yourself in most of it’s glory.

Various exhibits dotted around the ship tell the whole story from it’s construction to it’s preservation and if you didn’t give a damn walking into the museum, you’ll find, after an hour or two, it’s the only thing you can think of.

So what sunk the Vasa?

It was Physics.

Not enough ballast was placed in the hull to counter balance the weight of cannons on the upper deck. She was simply too bad-ass for nature to allow her to sail.