While the Mary Rose is arguably the most famous shipwreck to return to the surface, she wasn’t the first to have the eyes of the world watching. In 1961, the people of Sweden brought their own historic ship to the surface, with an origin story that has, on occasion, been mistakenly attributed to someone else…
Image from Google Art Project
Gustav II Adolf (1594-1632) was a member of the Vasa Dynasty, which ruled Sweden between 1523 and 1672. Sweden was at war with Poland and Lithuania, and they needed to expand their military, so Gustav ordered a large two gun decked vessel to be built. The ship, named Vasa (or Wasen, as it was often spelt at the time) after the Royal Family, was to be 120 feet (37m) long, and heavily decorated, covered with ornate painted carvings and gold leaf.
Image from Wikimedia commons
The Vasa had a troubled development period. The original shipwright, Henrick Hybertssen, fell ill shortly after starting work on designing the ship, and it is reported that the king was constantly asking for changes.
Towards the end of the build, the shipwright invited Vice Admiral Fleming to see how stable the ship would be, by getting 30 people to run across the decks. After three attempts, the ship was rocking violently, so the test was stopped. However, the king was insistent that the ship be launched as soon as possible, so work continued.
On 10 August 1628, the Vasa departed on its maiden voyage, one that was destined to be short.
The captain, Söfring Hansson, intended to fire a salute as they left the harbour, so had given the order to keep the gunports open. The weather was calm that day, so the Vasa had all her sails deployed. This meant that, when a strong gust of wind caught them as they reached Tegelviken, the ship was forced over onto its port side, pushing the open gunports below the surface, flooding the lower gundeck, and eventually the hold. The ship was lost only 120m from the shore, less than an hour into its maiden voyage, with a loss of 30 men.
A furious King Gustav, upon hearing the news, called an inquest, and the surviving crew were cross examined about their competence, the shipwrights about any alterations they made to the plans, but nothing could be found. The crew were sober and had acted responsibly, and the shipwrights had exactly followed the instructions the king had sent over.
The inquest concluded that the ship had been badly designed, but nobody was to blame (mainly because Hybertssen had died by this point, and the king clearly couldn’t be responsible!)
Much of this story may seem familiar, although you may have heard of it being attributed to the Mary Rose. If you spend time on social media, and you see one of the many posts showing pictures of the Vasa, you’re guaranteed to see someone comment “Similar story to the Mary Rose” or “The Mary Rose sank in a similar fashion”
Other than both being ships that sunk, and were later raised and put in museums, the similarities are superficial, although there are some worth mentioning;
The differences are a bit more notable though.
How was this mistake made? At the time of the Mary Rose being raised, the Vasa’s salvage in 1961 was the only comparable operation, so it was featured in press releases. It just takes one person to misread it and attribute the maiden voyage story to the wrong ship in a high profile-enough broadcast to cement a story.
Another shipwreck, this time from England, and a lot earlier…
Find out more
10th August was also the date of the Mary Rose‘s first battle, in 1513.
Find out more
