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Anniversary of the Sinking of the Vasa

S

Stallion

Sea Dog
Public Relations
On this day way back in the year 1628, the Swedish warship Vasa foundered and sank less than one nautical mile into her maiden voyage. Several salvage attempts were successfully made on her through the coming years, albeit causing much damage to the ship while they were undergone. She was then lost to the sands of time until her rediscovery in the '50's by an amateur archaeologist, at which point plans to raise her in her entirety were put in operation.

300px-The_Vasa_from_the_Bow.jpg



From Wikipedia:

On 10 August 1628, Captain Söfring Hansson ordered Vasa to set sail on her maiden voyage to the naval station at Älvsnabben. The day was calm, and the only wind was a light breeze from the southwest. The ship was towed along the waterfront to the southern side of the harbor, where three sails were set, and the ship made way to the east. The gun ports were open, and the guns were out to fire a salute as the ship left Stockholm. Finally the great ship had begun her voyage.[sup][11][/sup]

After Vasa emerged from the lee of the city, a gust of wind filled her sails, and she heeled suddenly to port. The sheets were cast off, and the ship slowly righted herself as the gust passed. Soon another gust came, which again forced the ship onto her port side, this time causing water to flow through the open lower gun ports. The incoming rush of water caused Vasa to heel further, and she sank to a depth of 32 meters (105 ft) only 120 meters (390 ft) from shore. Survivors clung to debris to save themselves, and many nearby boats rushed to their aid, but despite these efforts and the short distance to land, 30 to 50 people perished with the ship, according to reports. The flags and the tops of the main and fore masts, still visible above the surface, leaned heavily to port because of ballast that had shifted during the sinking. Vasa sank in full view of a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands, of mostly ordinary Stockholmers who had come to see the great ship set sail. The crowd included foreign ambassadors, in effect spies of Gustavus Adolphus' allies and enemies, who also witnessed the catastrophe.
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More: http://en.wikipedia....Vasa_%28ship%29
 
Hmm. The ballast stones shifted significantly and water poured in through open gun ports. Methinks whoever designed that ship was not allowed to design another one. On the other hand, the workmanship displayed is incredible. You don't see wood work like that anymore.
 
Methinks whoever designed that ship was not allowed to design another one.
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IRRC it was the swedish King himself who told the designer to raise the cannon count to an absurd level (which ultimately led to the sinking). I doubt he lost his job, though xD:
 
Just like the politicians of today - the only job where you can completely bungle things right up and maybe even kill people in the process, yet you won't get fired. xD: :rolleyes:
 
Just seen a documentary about the Mary Rose-a 90gun warship from the 16th century. She sunk almost the same way-water flood into her hull through the open gunports while turning.
Same reason-Henry VIII ordered new bronze cannons(man, they were HUGE!!!) added at lower points of the hull and overloaded the ship with around 600men in total. According to research a man-at-arms weight was 100kg-that meant 60tons of extra weight plus the new cannons and a misterious gust of wind during turn was enough to sink her...
 
i've seen the mary rose. half of it, anyway. it's currently located in plymouth.
 
Too badly damaged, basically the other half perished over time... She was a beauty in her prime with lovely aft and fore castles and 90 guns. I swear I never saw medieval guns that big! There was this artillery expert investigating one of the original cannon`s barrel and he had to literally climb up a ladder just to see the tip of the gun that was in an upright position.
Strange thing is that one of the era-specialist said-it was extremely rare that a ship would sink from cannon fire back in the early-mid 16th century. :woot
 
There's only one cannon I can think of that's bigger than those and is known to have been fired: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Cannon

I guess their theory is that fire would cause more sinkings, or something. That seems a little strange, though. You'd think enough cannonballs pummelling a general area of the hull would eventually create a nice, big hole. :yes

I can't help but think she'd be a prime candidate for what an automotive museum did here with a 1928 Dodge - they restored half of it, and left the other half as they found it. The same could be done withe the Mary Rose, except the missing half would be new, and the other half could be left as raised. The two halves could be stood facing each other, so that damage caused by actually connecting them could be avoided.

This is the car: http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadagood/3306207865/#/
 
Stallion said:
I can't help but think she'd be a prime candidate for what an automotive museum did here with a 1928 Dodge - they restored half of it, and left the other half as they found it. The same could be done withe the Mary Rose, except the missing half would be new, and the other half could be left as raised. The two halves could be stood facing each other, so that damage caused by actually connecting them could be avoided.
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Interestingly, that's what they ARE doing right now! :woot They closed the temporary museum, which was used to preserve her, late last year, and are currently building an entirely new one on the same foundations!
It is to include the original half stood upright, with a replica of the other half fully loaded as it would have been back in its day, with a viewing gallery between them.
More information, and concepts of the new museum (to be opened in 2012), are on this site: http://www.maryrose.org/
(she's located in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, right next to HMS Victory, btw ;))
 
No problem. :doff
It's something I can't wait to see, although 2012 is a long wait (but for £35 million, it's no wonder they're taking their time! :shock)
 
A propros replicas...

Here´s another one, the L'Hermione.
Clickme!

And some great pics of the reconstruction can be found here

:keith
 
She will be launched fall 2011 or in 2012, I hope i'll be able to see that, I've visited her, it's really impressive! Some very nice work!
 
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