Lost warship from the 17th century found in Sweden – Newspaper
STOCKHOLM: Swedish maritime archaeologists have discovered the long-lost sister ship of the iconic 17th-century warship “Vasa”, which sank on its maiden voyage, the Swedish Wreck Museum said on Monday.
“Applet” (Äpplet) was launched in 1629 and was built by the same shipbuilders as the famous 69-meter (225 ft) “Vasa”, now on display in Stockholm after being salvaged in the 1960s.
– Our pulses raced when we saw how similar the wreck was to the Vasa, says Jim Hansson, maritime archaeologist at the museum.
The huge shipwreck was discovered in December 2021 in a strait off the island of Vaxholm just outside the capital Stockholm, according to the museum.
Hansson said the design and dimensions seemed “very familiar” to them, raising hopes that it could be one of Vasa’s sister ships. While parts of the ship’s sides had fallen off, the hull was preserved up to the lower gun deck, and the parts that had fallen off showed gun ports on two planes.
A more accurate survey of the wreck was made in the spring of 2022, which revealed ship details previously only seen on the Vasa.
The museum said technical details as well as measurements and wood samples confirmed it was indeed the Applet, Vasa’s sister ship. In 2019, the same museum reported the discovery of two other warships in the same area.
Archaeologists at the time believed that one of them might have been the Applet, but further investigation revealed that these vessels were instead two medium-sized warships from 1648 – named ‘Apollo’ and ‘Maria’.
“With ‘Applet’ we can add another important piece of the puzzle in the development of Swedish shipbuilding,” Hansson said, adding that this allowed researchers to study the differences between Applet and Vasa.
Published in Dawn, October 25, 2022