myth busting the vasa

There's one topic that makes me geeky. I am a huge fan of the Vasa warship.

It's a great story. It's a phenomenal artifact. It's home is a fabulous architectural structure that enhances the wonder and awe of the mighty ship.

My ongoing affair with the ship continued today. Fred Hocker, archaeologist and composer of the ambitious endeavor of cataloging and compiling the factual documentation of the ship, met with me to discuss the newly debunked myths of the Vasa saga.

Firstly, the Vasa sank because of operational error, i.e. the captain's fault. The captain was aware of the instability of the ship, sailed with the lower gun ports open with near full sail. A well understood no-no of the era. There's oodles of documentation to back this up.

Secondly, the Vasa was not a forgotten and lost wreck. As late as 1839 the wreck was marked on sea charts of the Stockholm harbor. A salvage was requested in the 1920s but denied because of its location in the shipping channel. Divers and others involved in the 20's project were around when Anders Franzén got interested in finding her again in the 50s. Unfortunately they originally pointed out the wrong spot.

Thirdly, Franzén didn't find the Vasa on his own, randomly fishing with his core sampler in a dingy. He was accompanied and assisted by Per Edvin Fälting, who is given credit as the master diver on the salvage. It was Fälting who informed Franzén that he was looking on the wrong side of the harbor and helped devise an improved drag to locate the ship. However, Franzén's core sampler did indeed find the ship and confirmed there was oak beneath the surface.

Finally, the ship was designed to be the size it turned out to be. It was not lengthened nor was an unplanned second gun deck ordered after initial construction. Had the ship been properly ballasted and the captain had had a chance to get to know how to rig it and ship ballast, it would likely have been a sea worthy ship.

I didn't get invited on board again. But I am now in possession of Volume I. That's what reminds me that I'm a Vasa geek.