What lies beneath

Today's post actually begins last night.  Donna, wanting to walk off dinner, took the camera for a stroll and came back with some lovely night shots.  Over a small bridge just below us on the isle of Skeppsholem is an old bridge that joins a smaller islet on which Kastellholmen is found. In the soft light of night, this beautiful building shines.  The castle was planned as part of Stockholm's defense and had two predecessors:

• One used in the 1660s when the Navy just moved to the islets; and 

• one from 1746, blown up through an accident in its ammunition factory in 1845. 

The three-tongue war flag has been hoisted at Kastellholmen since the 1660s and perhaps even earlier. At the end of the 1660s a small octagonal castle with flagpole was built on the roof. From here, passing ships were greeted with flag and cannon salutes. The castle later came to be used as a powder cellar, storage room and ammunition factory, but the flagging from its roof continued.The Swedish word 'skepp' translates as 'ship'.  Another beautiful photo is of a rigged ship - the af Chapman.  There are lots of such boats moored around here, and not many modern launches.  Turns out that this one is now a youth hostel and restaurants.The ship was constructed by the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Company, located in the English county of Cumberland, and launched in February or March of 1888. Her original owners the same name in County Meath, Ireland. Her maiden voyage was from Maryport, Cumberland, to Portland, Oregon, and she subsequently made voyages between Europe, Australia and the west coast of North America.  Funny where you find links with home.

But enough of last night.We begin our day juggling accommodation bookings, flights, and train bookings to make sure that we are back in Amsterdam in time to fly home on the 13th.  Hard to believe that we are planning the end of this adventure!

Today we are headed back to another island on the archipelago that is Stockholm - the

island of Djurgården.  This is the same island that we visited yesterday, but today we walk right along the waterfront to the Vasamuseum.
The Vasa Museum has been constructed to house the largest salvaged item in the world - a 17th century warship that capsized and sank in Stockholm 1628.  After 333 years on the sea bed the mighty warship was salvaged and the voyage could continue. Today, Vasa is the world's best preserved 17th century ship.  

In the spring of 1626, under the watchful and impatient eye of  the King the construction of the Vasa is underway and completed in the summer of 1628. The cellar held the naval arsenal and Vasa was moored below the palace when she took her cannon onboard.  Battles were being waged in northern Europe in the summer of 1628.

It was mid-afternoon when at last it was time. After many delays, frustrations with the supply of guns, and a change of captain, the newly fitted out Vasa was anchored below the castle, with its cannon finally on board and the crew manning their stations. The quay was packed with people and the water teemed with small craft carrying people who wanted to watch the mighty war machine slip its moorings and sail from Stockholm.  What started with church services and a festive atmosphere ended in a watery grave. It was the 10th of August 1628, when Vasa, the most powerful warship in the Baltic, foundered in Stockholm harbour before the eyes of a large audience, scant minutes after setting sail for the first time and travelling only about 1,300 metres.

The day after the sinking, an inquest into the disaster was begun. 

Ultimately, no one was blamed and the reason given was poor design (which had been approved by the King!)  Perhaps the most interesting part of the inquest from a technical point of view is an appendix at the end, recording the opinions of a group of professional experts, captains and shipwrights. Without the benefit of calculus or modern naval engineering theory, they correctly identified the forces at work and the cause of the instability. As one of them put it, the ship did not have enough "belly" to carry the high and heavy upperworks.

The ship lay on her side, somewhat forgotten despite searches for the ship over the centuries, at the entrance to Stockholm harbour.  In the early 1950's when the City was looking at constructing a new bridge, research highlighted that what was thought to be rubble from a 1920's blasting turned out to be ballast from the Vasa.  
The seabed home of the Vasa was confirmed on 4 September 1956 (and today is 4 September 63 years later!).  It took another 5 years to plan and prepare for the raising and on Monday, 24 April 1961, thousands of people crowded the shores around Kastellholmsviken, much as they had lined the shore almost 333 years earlier, and the Vasa was brought back into the light.

This is an amazing story both in the building, salvaging and documenting of the stories.  The ship that spans seven storeys high, sank in 3 minutes meaning that the minutae of everyday life aboard such a vessel survived also.  Much of the museum is dedicated to this.  
There is a film that explains the story of the salvaging and lots of detailed exhibits.  What an interesting afternoon!

We finally leave after 5 pm.  The weather is chilly now with an afternoon breeze and we walk the 750m around to the ferry stop to head back to Skeppsholmen.  We have an early light dinner of sliders, salami and cheese, and ready for a bigger day tomorrow on Gamla Stan - the Old City.