Historical Swedish Ship - Vasa

[Classic Finn]

If you folks like or are interested in Old Ships here is another famous Swedish Ship from the 1600,s that sank near the Stockholm Ports. It was raised in 1961 and fully redone. Enjoy photos of the ship Vasa.

And if you ever get to Stockholm make sure you stop in at the Vasa Museum. Its totally built up and around the ship.

Here are photos for you to enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gissa/sets/1789655/

Classic Finn

[Roly Nelson]

Heikki, my great, great, great grandfather was the captain on that ill-fated maiden voyage of the Vasa, as it was launched with all sails unfurled. He ordered all cannon doors opened and cannons pushed into firing position, so the hundreds of boats observing the event would be impressed.

As the ship rounded a hill in the harbor, it was hit broadside by strong wind gusts, which caused it to list to one side. The loose cannons and cannon balls rolled to the low side, causing the open canon doors to go below the level of the sea. This filled the ship quickly with water, and with the combined weight of the considerable keel ballast, it sank, BLOOP, with all flags flying. Wives and girlfriends in rowboats saw their loved ones breath their last breaths, as it dissapeared.

My family has never been able to forget this stupid desision by Grandpa Sven, (who went down with the ship) and we are chastised to this day as a result. If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you in New York.

I just had to see the results with my own eyes when I visited Sweden some 15 years ago. So, I spent a whole day, enjoying this beautiful example of Scandinavian woodworkering skills, and am saddened that it ended in such humiliation.

Thanks Heikki for the link to the pics of this great national treasure.
Roly, just another viking woodworker, ha det so bra.

[angib]

I had not realized that the Vasa was as complete as those pictures show. Britain has a recovered warship of similar age, the Mary Rose, but it has only half of one side (the part that was buried in mud and preserved). Next year is their exciting year when the preservative sprays get turned off - they've been running since the ship was raised in 1982!

And the Mary Rose may have been crewed by some of Roly's other relatives (the ones who travelled to Britain as Vikings....). After being refitted the ship was heavier and so floated further down in the water. While shooting at a French fleet, the captain put up too much sail, which heeled the ship over so that water flooded in though its lowest level gun ports and the ship sank.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - Heikki will remember that the captain of a British ferry, the 'Herald of Free Enterprise', forgot this lesson about 20 years ago and left the bow doors of his ferry open as he set off to sea - as the first small waves washed in, it flooded the car deck and the ship turned over, repeating history.

The exciting news for lovers of old ships is that the Black Sea is living up to its name - the 'black' water that exists below about 100m (300ft) is not only toxic to any form of marine life, but also is turning out to be a better preservative than anything yet found. Such perfectly preserved ships are being found that there is hope to find preserved ships dating back as far as the Romans and Phoenicians.

Andrew

[Classic Finn]

Yes indeed I remember the news and events on that RoRo Vessel. Very Sad event to say the least.

[SmokeyBob]

Hi Heikki

Thanks for sharing information about your country. The wife and I enjoy reading your post.

[Classic Finn]

Hi Heikki

Thanks for sharing information about your country. The wife and I enjoy reading your post.

Thank You for your kind words. I find some nice info on both Sweden and Finland at times that may be of interest. Thes ships and boats in general fascinate me since Ive worked at sea for years.

Both Finland and Sweden has close historical ties as well. Also Ive lived in Sweden so I guess I can call both my homeland. I can adopt to both countries very easily.

Classic Finn

[Classic Finn]

There is a song written by an American Musician Doug Sahm that spent a lot of time in Sweden and Finland as well as on tour and he sang about the Ship Vasa as well as a song named Meet Me in Stockholm He was from San Antonio. Sir Douglas Quintet was the bands name with Augie Meyers and Freddy Fender. I met these gentleman twice while being here.

Here is the Ballad of the Ship Vasa by Doug Sahm who sadly passed away in 1999. November 6, 1941 - November 18, 1999.


http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... ID=6966439


also he has another song that all of us Scandinavians know by him and it goes like this.


MEET ME IN STOCKHOLM BABY WE´LL MESS AROUND
TAKE A REAL SLOWBOAT TO HELSINKI TOWN

WHEN IT´S OVER NO YOU WANNA STAY

LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH ME THE SCANDINAVIEN WAY



MEET ME…….



YOU CAN TAKE A BOAT OR TAKE A TRAIN

LONG AS YOU GET HERE BABY IT´S ALL THE SAME

I KNOW THAT TEXAS LIFE HAS GOT YOU DOWN

MEET ME IN STOCKHOLM BABY WE´LL MESS AROUND



MEET ME….



HELSINKI CALLS ME I WAS FAR AWAY

DOWN IN COPENHAGEN WE´LL SPEND THE DAY

LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN IT COASTED ME

MEET ME IN STOCKHOLM BABY WHERE WE CAN BE FREE



MEET ME…..

Enjoy.

[Classic Finn]

Here is some History about the Vasa.

You Tube


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6zsMNbOvS0

[Arne]

I visited the Vasa in the 60's. I was impressed that they had built a building with water misters to keep the wood from drying out too fast so it would be preserved.

What they have on display now is much more complete than the skeleton I saw when I was there.. this is what I saw..

[Classic Finn]

I visited the Vasa in the 60's. I was impressed that they had built a building with water misters to keep the wood from drying out too fast so it would be preserved.

What they have on display now is much more complete than the skeleton I saw when I was there..

Arne - Yes they have come a long way since then. We go visit the place whenever we are in Sweden .. Just cant seem to get tired of it.

[Arne]

I did a search on it and found the cannon were retrieved a few years after the main section of the hull... so I expect they did the salvaging over many years and continued finding additional pieces that we see today.... it was a great discovery.

Interesting how a tragedy at the time now gives us a wonderful glimpse into history.

Our country is so large, it takes a bit of getting used to when I hear about people visiting another country like it is another state in our country.

When I lived in Amsterdam, it was nothing to go to Paris, Austria, Switzerland for a long weekend... especially for skiing in the winter... (not in Paris, though :} ).

Mayrhofen, Austria was the place we went most often.. They had a little narrow gauge train that took up a mile or two up to the slopes... At the top of the ski lift, when we got off, that had two barrels with planks on top and we could buy Slivovitz to 'refresh' us for the next downhill run... great times.

http://www.ski-europe.com/resorts/mayrhofen.html

[Classic Finn]

Even nowadays they are still diving and searching for bits of the Vasa around the harbor of Stockholm.

Wonder what they will find next

Your quite right Arne here we go to Sweden or Norway up from the Very Northern Tip of our small countries. Exactly like driving from state to state.

One time the wife and I went into Norway from there, bought ourselves a fresh baked bag of Lefse from an open air market and visited some local museums and stores and drove back again to the Finnish side. And explored bits of Northern Lapland and did some fishing as well.

Classic Finn