It is clear that the Wasa sank because she was unstable
and not seaworthy. She carried too large
a percentage of weight above the waterline.
This is not the result of the weight of the armaments. Rather it is the hull design itself which didn’t
allow room for sufficient ballast. Failed
stability tests were ignored. But there
were many additional factors which contributed to the sinking.
Sweden was engaged in war with Poland. The King desperately needed a new warship for
success. But he was unable to have
direct contact with the designers and contractors of the vessel since he was out
of the country. Nonetheless, no expense
was spared in building the Wasa. Funding
was not an issue. But changing
requirements and schedules were. The
Wasa was originally conceived as a small traditional vessel but became a large
innovative vessel.
The changing requirements had some unintended
consequences. To expedite the
construction, both Swedish and Dutch shipwright teams were used. These teams used different measuring
systems. The Swedish foot measures 12
inches while the Dutch foot measured only 11 inches. This caused the ships mass to be unevenly distributed
and heavier on the port side. The
addition of a second gun deck caused a conflict between seaworthiness and
military firepower. This resulted in an
unavoidably large amount of weight above the waterline.
Upper and Lower Gun Ports of the Wasa
Even then the Wasa probably would not have sunk if her
gun ports had been closed. The normal
procedure was for vessels with multi-tiered gun decks was to sail with the gun ports
closed. It was not unusual for wind
pressure to push the lower row of gun ports below the water. It is believed Wasa’s gun ports were open in
order to fire celebratory shots as part of the maiden voyage send off. It was too late to save the Wasa by closing
her gun ports after she began taking on water.
Wasa Lion Figurehead as recovered
Even though the Wasa was in remarkable condition after
spending 330 years submerged in the Baltic Sea, allowing her to dry out by
simply bring her to the surface would have caused a greatly accelerated rate of
deterioration. There have been numerous
research projects to determine the optimum way to preserve the ship and its
contents. Special buildings were
constructed to house the Wasa and facilitate keeping her hydrated. The primary method of conservation was
impregnation of the entire vessel with polyethylene glycol (PEG). She was continuously sprayed with PEG for a
period of 17 years. This has been followed
by a long period of controlled slow drying under stringent temperature and
humidity control.
Wasa Lion Figurehead as restored
The Wasa currently resides in the Wasa Museum in
Stockholm. The goal of this museum is to
present the vessel and a nearly original condition for public display. Features that needed to be rebuilt used as
many original parts as possible. It is
estimated that 95% of the ship today is made up of original materials. The Wasa quickly became a Swedish national
treasure. The ship and museum are a
major tourist attraction. The story of the Wasa has been the the subject
of numerous books articles and papers.
Several children’s books have been written about her. Custom-built models and model kits are
available.
Ship Models Online offers two beautiful scratch built wooden quality tall ship models of the Wasa in different sizes.
This is the last in a
series of five blog posts relating the Story of the Wasa. I hope you have found this series
enjoyable. I would be very interested in
any comments you may have about these articles.
References include:
Vasa (ship) from Wikipedia
The Swedish Ship Vasa’s Revival by Dottie E. Mayol,
Univ. of Miami
Why the Vasa Sank: 10 Lessons Learned by R. Fairley
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