Exhibit Review TIME CAPSULE FROM THE 17TH CENTURY: STOCKHOLM’S VASA MUSEUM JOHN G. ARRISON In the 17th century Sweden was one of Europe’s great powers, whose expanding boundaries made the Baltic almost a Swedish sea. Sweden’s territories included not only Finland but also the lands around the Gulf of Finland and parts of Germany and Poland as well. Sweden’s copper and iron mines became the primary source of raw materials to fill Europe’s demand for large guns. Sweden’s navy played a key role in the country’s growth, and the royal warship Vasa was to be the pride of that navy. But the ship met with disaster in 1628, foundering in Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage. Three-andone -half centuries later, however, the Vasa stands marvelously resur rected, the centerpiece for the most popular museum in Scandinavia. Built on the shore of Stockholm’s Djurgarden, the Vasa Museum serves as a monument to Sweden’s past eminence. The story of the Vasa is not one of romantic grandeur, and the ship itself does not have the traditional characteristics of a national relic. It is more an archetype for the failures of modern government contract ing—poor communication, frequent change orders, cost overruns, missed deadlines, and high-level inquiries. As the Vasa was being built and outfitted between 1625 and 1628, King Gustavus II Adolfus, “Lion of the North,” was on the Continent fighting his Catholic cousin, King Sigismund of Poland, over rights to the Swedish throne. A strong navy was essential to the logistics of a war across the Baltic, but in the three years of the Vasa’s construction the Swedish navy lost twelve large vessels, primarily due to storms. In an effort to buttress his naval power, the king ordered a number of changes to the Vasa—greater length and breadth, more guns, and heavier guns. A ship possibly designed with one gun deck ended up with Mr. Arrison is a naval architect and Hagley Fellow at the University of Delaware. His dissertation on labor and technology in 20th-century shipbuilding stems from past work at Bath Iron Works and as curator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Hart Nautical Collections.© 1994 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X794/3501 -0007$01.00 158 Time Capsule from the 17th Century: Stockholm’s Vasa Museum 159 two, carrying sixty-four guns, including forty-eight 24-pounders. The resulting ship was top-heavy; ballasted so heavily that the lower gunports were dangerously close to the waterline, it was still too shallow to hold sufficient ballast to remain stable in a strong breeze. Yet the Vasa still reflected the glory of the royal family. It had an overall length of 69 meters, an 11.7-meter beam, and a displacement of 1,210 tons.1 The Vasa made its ceremonial maiden voyage on Sunday, Au gust 10, 1628. On board were 100 crewmen plus wives and children. All of Stockholm was watching. The ship had gone little more than 1 kilometer when a gust of wind filled the four set sails. It heeled over, the lower gunports on the lee side began taking water, and the Vasa sank in 35 meters of water. About fifty lives were lost. For spectators and victims alike, the loss of the Vasa was not unlike the disaster of the space shuttle Challenger. Early attempts at salvage proved fruitless, with the sole exception of an effort mounted by Albreckt von Treileben, a Swede, and a German named Andreas Peckell. In 1664 and 1665, using a simple diving bell, they succeeded in recovering more than fifty of the Vasa’s heavy guns. For almost 300 years after that, the Vasa remained forgotten. Then, in the 1950s, Anders Franzen began researching the ship and succeeded in locating it on August 25, 1956. The subsequent “Save the Vasa" campaign marshaled all the forces of national pride, bringing to gether the government, private enterprise, foundations, and indi viduals throughout Sweden. After an expensive and risky salvage effort, the Vasa broke the surface on April 24, 1961. Though badly damaged, the hull was whole and floatable because...
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