Well this sort of speaks for itself
Given my short time in Stockholm, Lottie gave me some suggestions of “must visits” and I am glad she did. One of the suggestions was to go to the Vasa Museum. This is a museum that is all about the Vasa, a ship that sailed only 1,300 m on its maiden voyage in 1628. It was a ship built under the orders of King Gustav II to impress and intimidate. I guess it’s fate was somewhat ironic. Perhaps there is a lesson in that? However, putting conjecture aside, and one thing I had noted when Lottie and I were at the seaside, is that the Baltic Sea is not a very salty sea. I actually did taste it as I noticed when I got out of the water that I did not have that slimy somewhat not clean feel that the oceans I have been in in the last 5 months have given me.
The Vasa - the first thing you see when you enter the museum
So what does salt water have to do with anything? Well I sort of give that away in the top picture. Because of the inability of the highly destructive worm, Teredo navalis, which normally gobbles up sunken ships, to do its job, since it does not thrive in low salt ocean water, the Vasa was spared that fate. Also add to that the fact that is sunk right in the harbour of Stockholm where for many years sewage was pumped in directly and as such the ship was somewhat buried in silt. These factors made for pretty ideal factors to preserve almost all of the original ship.
A model of the Vasa
Almost forgotten, in the 1950s a man set out to find it. And well, I guess he did. It took a number of years but they were finally able to raise the Vasa in 1961. It is a fascinating story about how they did that and also about what had to be done once it got to the surface. Since wood that is 333 years old and totally water logged when exposed suddenly to air and left to its own devices would crack and desintegrate, much work had to be done to slowly preserve it and help it survive a life in the air. And this job is ongoing and will never be complete.
The actual stern end as it looks today
A model of the stern end as it would have looked in 1628
The aim of course is to ensure the continual preservation of this world class treasure for many future generations. But this is not as easy as it seems. It is kept in a cool dark climate controlled building. Gravity and chemical changes constantly challenge scientists who research how to keep such an ancient structure alive that was previously immersed in an almost oxygen free environment.
Not the best shot and difficult to get with my camera - but this is the entire boat looking down its length from the bow
They have been doing an amazing job. I spent a good two hours in there absorbing all the information fascinated by this time capsule. 95% of the boat is the original and has been pieced together with all the pieces found at its site. Stories of the people that were found dead with the ship and their belongings, details of life at that time and the story of the ship itself. It really is something that leaves you a little breathless. I highly recommend a visit.
A recreation of one of the seamen that went down with the ship
The fabulous lion on the bow head
I had never heard of the Vasa before, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. You are right about the Vasa Museum being worth a vist… 🙂
The Vasa must have been beautiful and imposiing at the same time. Its fate reminds me somewhat of that of the Titanic, don’t you think?
Yes somewhat although the Titanic got to sail a fair bit further …
Avery interesting story – and hopefully they will be able to keep it at least as it is today.
Yes – you can’t really see when you are looking at it what the scientists are dealing with but you can imagine the challenge
Who is Jurgen? Mum
Jurgen is an acquaintance I met in Istanbul who was kind enough to show me around the Lubeck area of Germany and to put me up at his house.