Its impressive size kept it in the depths of the frigid Baltic Sea for centuries. The tragic end of it was something that no one expected, primarily due to the economic investment that the creation of the Swedish warship Vasa represented at that time. The king had all the hopes of him on this ship.
Vasa warship of the 17th century.
Henrik Hybertsson, a shipbuilder, is the creator of this majestic warship, at first, he established that it only carry 36 battle cannons due to the vast sculptures that the ship already had and made it excessively heavy, but this is when the intervention King Gustavo Adolfo II arrives and demands to put aside the aesthetics of the ship and place more cannons at all costs.
Early in the morning, the Vasa departed. With twice the number of cannons initially admitted by Henrik. The lack of knowledge and technology at that time did not allow for studying carefully and checking the boat’s balance after those important changes.
This caused the ship to lose its stability completely, and upon entering the open sea, its strong winds, unfortunately, sank it without any remedy, leaving approximately 30 crew members dead. It was a complete tragedy that shook the whole of Sweden.
Archaeologists in 1961 succeeded after more than 30 years of hard work to get this imposing warship out of the depths of the sea.
They were surprised by the excellent condition in which it is still found, which is why it is exhibited in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm since you can see the hand-painted Lions and others in bronze at the stern of the ship, the cannons and its imposing sails.
All this because the low temperatures and the cold seawater kept it intact and away from possible bacteria that could deteriorate the wood in approximately 95%.
That is why it is considered the only ship in the world that is complete despite suffering this eventuality, so much so that an old board game called Backgammon was extracted from one of the ship’s cabins.
Backgammon board game.
This beautiful and great 17th-century warship was reborn from the depths of the sea and deserved to be seen by the entire world so that they can appreciate its delicate finish in each of the details printed on it.