On a voyage to the Vasa Museum

Little Blue Birdie's Diary

Dear Diary,

After our tour of the Drottningholm Palace, our next visit was to a maritime museum in Stockholm Sweden, in the island of Djurgorden. This museum was specially built to exhibit the mighty 17th century warship named Vasa. It was evident that this mighty warship was set to spend its winter years in the harbour.

"Vasa was built at the Stockholm Shipyard by Henrik Hybertesson who is an experienced Dutch ship-builder", explained Robin. "Vasa was once the mightiest warship in the world, armed with 64 guns on the two gun decks", he added. We met a wonderful friend at the museum. You will be surprised to hear who he is. He was a tortoise, who was more than 300 years old! He witnessed the ship's maiden voyage. You too can learn about it through his own words. "In 1628 the ship was ready to set sail.

August 10,Sunday was the day of Vasa's maiden Voyage. Hundreds of spectators had gathered to witness this magnificent event. There were foreign diplomats as well. The entire project was part of the propaganda for the ambitious Swedish King, Gustav Adolpus. Amidst all the pomp and pageantry, the mighty Vasa set sail and fired a gun salute.

It was finally ready to journey across the great ocean, but alas!, after a few minutes of sailing, the ship slowly began to keel over. She struggled to keep herself upright for awhile, but ultimately she keeled-over again. Water started to gush in through the open gun ports. To everyone's horror and disbelief, the glorious and mighty warship suddenly sank! There were spectators who shed tears over this horrible fate of the Vasa," sighed the old tortoise. I could see his tear-filled eyes. Even mama bird started to cry.

"I was so proud to be among those spectators. There were around 150 people on board, and I think around 30-50 of them died in the disaster", the tortoise continued in a low, husky voice. The reports claim that they had discovered 25-30 human skeletons at the wreckage.

After the shipwreck, the captain had been arrested, and King Gusatv, who was away from the country for a few days, had also been informed of this great disaster. After a thorough investigation, they came to a conclusion that though the ship was strong and well built, it was badly proportioned, as they didn't have any scientific methods of calculating a ship's stability in the 17th century.

In 1956, after many years of hard work, the shipwreck specialist Ander Franzon, finally located the Vasa. Then, ending the five years of adventure story period, and 333 years at the bottom of the sea, the warship Vasa, was finally brought to the surface of Stockholm harbour in 1961.

The Navy's Swedish divers, under the leadership of head diver, Per Edvin Felting, undertook the gruelling task of bringing the wreckage to the surface. They managed to rinse out the mud from six tunnels in the ship, submerged in the sea bed, using specially made nozzles. Steel cables were needed to draw the ship free.

Most of the people were curious to know whether this great ship still remained intact, after being in the bottom of the sea for many centuries. Luckily it had, and Vasa was lifted in 16 stages, to more shallow water. Then, it was made watertight and strengthened, before the final lift. According to Robin, the proud royal warship Vasa had broken to surface at 9.03 am on April 24, 1961.

During that summer, the ship was excavated by archaeologists. "Vasa is the biggest, single object that has ever been preserved in this land", said Robin. A chemical substance called 'Polyethylenglycil (PEG)' was used to replace the water in the wooden parts and prevent it from shrinking, when it dries.

Then, the Vasa museum was built to place the ship, in 1990. Around 384 architects had sent in their ideas in the form of models. In the end, Giram Monsson and Marianne Dablebeck were the lucky architects, who were chosen to build the museum, and the construction work commenced in 1987.

The museum was declared open in 1990. It was indeed a marvellous journey. As Robin said, it is the most visited place in Sweden. Hope you too will get an opportunity to visit the Vasa museum and make a journey, back in time, as you walk inside it, viewing the many beautiful artifacts displayed. We'll meet you again, at yet another interesting place.

Till then, bye!