Sweden finds the 17th century warship sister to the famous Vasa
Maritime archaeologists from Sweden’s Wreck (Vrakmuseet) have discovered the wreck of a 17th-century warship which they believe will provide new insights into both the country’s history and the history of shipbuilding. The ship, known as The appleis a sister ship to Sweden’s most famous historic warship Vasawhich sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. Launched in 1629, the The apple was built by the same shipbuilders that Vasa.
In 1625, King Gustav II Adolf ordered the construction of four warships that would be among the largest ever created and demonstrate Sweden’s power. Two of the ships would be larger ships destined to be Vasa and that The applewhile the other two were somewhat smaller in dimension.
1,200 tons Vasa completed three years later measured 226 feet in length (including her bowsprit) with a beam of only 38 feet and a draft of 16 feet. Fully loaded including 64 guns, the massive ship set off in Stockholm harbor, and to the horror of onlookers, the ship capsized when caught in strong gusts of wind. The second time it happened, her open gun ports began to flood and the ship sank, claiming 30 lives. In the early 1960s, Sweden saved Vasa and built a museum to display the ship.
The shipbuilder Hein Jacobsson suspected it, according to the historians Vasa had been built too narrow and was therefore likely unstable. Saw it The apple was built wider, with a slightly different hull shape. She was completed in 1629 when she saw service in the Thirty Years’ War, carrying nearly 1,000 sailors and soldiers to Germany. Historians speculate that she was probably idled after the war because her large size made her more difficult to maneuver and more expensive to maintain and operate. The The apple was sunk by Sweden in 1659 to create an underwater barrier to block a hostile invasion of Stockholm by sea.
On several occasions, the museum’s maritime archaeologists collaborated with the Navy to survey the area where they believed the ship had sunk. In 2019, the museum’s maritime archaeologists found two shipwrecks in the area and believed they had finally located The apple. However, later research showed that they were two smaller medium-sized ships from 1648.
The archaeologists said they refused to give up and continued their search. In December 2021, a huge shipwreck was discovered. Parts of the ship’s sides had fallen to the bottom of the sea, but the hull was otherwise preserved up to a lower cane deck. The fallen sides had portholes at two different levels, evidence of a warship with two gun decks.
“Our pulses went up when we saw how similar the wreckage was Vasa, says Jim Hansson, maritime archaeologist at the museum. “Both the construction and the powerful dimensions seemed very familiar. The hope of finding one of Vasa’s sister ships was awakened within us.”
A second, more thorough survey was carried out in the spring of 2022. During these dives, ship details were found that had so far only been seen in Vasa, and several samples and analyzes were performed. It emerged that the oak for the ship’s timber was felled in 1627 in the same place as Vasas timber just a few years earlier.
– The measurements, the construction details, the wood samples and the archival material all pointed in the same direction – surprisingly we had found Vasas sister ship The apple, says Patrik Höglund, another maritime archaeologist at the museum. Measurement data, the ship’s technical details, wood samples and archival data confirmed that it is indeed Vasa’s sister ship, The apple.
“With The apple, we can add another important piece of the puzzle in the development of the Swedish shipbuilding industry, says Hansson. “And it is only now that we can really study the differences in the constructions of Vasa and The apple.”
The museum’s team are confident that their analysis of the wreck will help with the understanding of how the great warships evolved, from the unstable Vasa to seaworthy giants who could control the Baltic Sea.
The team will conduct a further briefing and reveal more images during a presentation on 26 October. It will be broadcast live online. A short video is available on the museum’s website for the discovery.