Logan Leslie Eastvold

Anth 200 World Prehistory

April 14, 2009
Dr. Melinda Leach

On August 10th of 1628 the magnificent Vasa1 was preparing for her maiden voyage.

She was to be the pride of the Swedish navy with stunning sculptures in dazzling colors and

glittering gold leaf. Sadly, however, this would be this great warships only voyage (Kleigardt

1983:1). Between three and four in the afternoon as she slowly sailed out of Stockholm

harbor a light south-west breeze coming out of the cliffs above the harbor, caught the sails

of the huge ship filling the four main sails for the first time, and the last. The huge ship

suddenly began to keel to one side, but as the breeze let up, she was able to slowly right

herself. But before the Vasa was fully up right another light gust came down upon her this

time causing the ship to heel over the port side to the point that she began taking on water

through the lower cannon ports. As water rushed into the Vasa so quickly those watching

from the shore were awe struck by what they were watching. The magnificent new Vasa, the

pride of the Swedish Navy, had just sunk to button of its own harbor, with sails up and flags

flying (Franzén 1974: 10; Delgado 1997: 454; ).

The sinking of the Vasa was a national catastrophe, for not only was this great ship

lost but along with it the 64 bronze cannons, most of the crew and a great number of the

crews families, who had been allowed on board for the send off (Franzén 1974: 7,10). A

number of higher level crew members who had been on the upper decks when the ship went

down did survive, including Captain Söfring Hansson who was immediately placed under

arrest but was released after being questioned about the disaster (Cederlund 2006: 54-55).

A great number of others were called forth to testify before the inquest to try to determine

who was at fault for the sinking, those called forward included all surviving officers, the

contractor, and the master shipwright. The inquest although full of drama and tension, was

unable to determine who the blame belonged to, even though a number of the officers knew

that the ship had stability issues prior to launch, and the shipwrights knew that the

dimensions the king approved were incorrect for the amount of guns that were being

1
The Ship was originally lunched as the Wasen, when plans were being made to raise her she was at first known as
the Wasa but fallowing the excavation she was officially named the “Vasa” (Franzén 1974: 7)

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 Logan Leslie Eastvold
Anth 200 World Prehistory
April 14, 2009
Dr. Melinda Leach

installed. It became clear that no single person could be blamed for the sinking; the inquest

chose to close the case declaring that no verdict could be found (Cederlund 2006: 55-57).

Starting very soon after the Vasa had come to rest at the bottom of the harbor

attempts to save her began. The first attempts taking place only three days after her fateful

voyage. The first attempt was made by an Englishman by the name of Ian Bulmer. Bulmer

was unable to raise the ship or any of the guns, but he was able to move it into an upright

position, which would prove to be a great benefit for the later attempts to raise her

(Cederlund 2006: 69-70). A number of other attempts were made to raise the ships

armaments and the ship itself but all attempts ended in vain. It took until 1664 when Hans

Albrekt von Treileben and the German salvage expert Andreas Peckell decided that they

would start small by trying first to remove as many of the cannons as they could. They were

assisted by the most primitive of diving bells (Franzén 1974: 12). These bells allowed each

diver between twenty to thirty minutes of oxygen the divers carried with them a single six-

foot long boat hook on which they were to attach to the cannons so they could be pulled up.

This task was not as easy as it sounds, the waters of the harbor were dark and murky and at

a depth of 110 feet, the temperature would have been horribly cold. Finding the cannons

was not the hardest part, that was yet to come. The greatest problem was actually getting

the one and half ton bronze cannons to the surface. In the span of two years, von Treileben

and Peckell were able to lift 53 of the 64 bronze cannons from the watery depths (Kleigardt

1983: 2-3). After the cannons were removed, the interest in the Vasa faded slowly out of

memory until she was almost completely forgotten (Franzén 1974: 12).

It would not be until 1956 that interest was renewed by marine archeologist Anders

Franzén only after being told the story of the Vasa by a professor in Stockholm. Franzén

began searching the Stockholm harbor sea bed with a core sampler and grappling iron. He

was able to locate the ship in August of 1956. The find quickly aroused nation-wide interest

in the three hundred and thirty-three year old ship, and the possibility of raising it from its

watery grave (Kleigardt 1983: 4-5; Murray 2001:914). The spring of the following year a
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 Logan Leslie Eastvold
Anth 200 World Prehistory
April 14, 2009
Dr. Melinda Leach

committee was formed to consider possible plans of raising the ship. The Neptune Salvage

Company of Stockholm offered to undertake the salvage for no cost, providing Swedish Navy

divers undertook the complicated underwater work (Franzén 1974: 14). To help in bringing

the ship to the surface the Navy divers dug a series of seven tunnels into the mud

underneath the ship. This allowed 1,600 yards of six-inch steel cables to be placed

underneath the ship and then the cables were hooked to pontoons. The pontoon’s buoyancy

would be what would ultimately prove critical in bringing the ship to the surface. The

pontoons could only lift the ship for so long before the stress would become too great. This

whole process was done eighteen separate times because the pontoons could not bring the

Vasa out in just one lift. After the ship was lifted each time, the Vasa was moved closer to

shore and into shallower water. This was done until the water depth was down to fifty feet.

From there the pontoons were able to finish the lifting process and bring the Vasa to surface

(Franzén 1974: 16). On April 24th 1961, the Vasa emerged from the deep for the first time in

three hundred and thirty-three years (Kleigardt 1983: 4-5).

Once the ship was raised, it was time for the complicated work to begin. On May

forththe Vasa was brought into dry dock. Once the Vasa was in dry dock, a special floating

preservation facility was built to prevent the Vasa’s wood from drying out toofast, therefore

causing the ship they had just worked so hard to save from caving in on itself. The structure

was built of steel, concrete, aluminum and glass and was fitted with a sprinkler system to

keep the ship wet (Franzén 1974: 17). After the ship was out of danger and in its new

temporary home,archeologists began carefully removing the mud and ballast from the ship.

At the same time that the hull was being preserved divers were searching the seafloor

around where the Vasa had lain. This search allowed for over 3,500 artifacts, which had

fallen off or ripped off the Vasa when it sank to be uncovered. The grand total for the

number of artifacts found in and around the Vasa numbered over 24,000 (Kleigardt 1983: 7,

8). Per Lunsdtröm was the Senior Archaeologist in charge of creating a plan for the

excavation of the inside of the ship. Lunsdtröm faced a number of problems, including the
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 Logan Leslie Eastvold
Anth 200 World Prehistory
April 14, 2009
Dr. Melinda Leach

limited space in which to work, the need for simultaneous stability work on the ship to be

going on while excavating. There were also no precedents off of which he could base his

work. Almost fully intact four story structures full of their original contents, are not very

common. Lunsdtröm was eventually able to come up with a workable plan that included

preprinted cataloging sheets where the lines simply needed to be filled in with the important

information. He also hired a number of photographers so that a photographic catalog of all

the finds could be made.

After the Vasa was out of the water the work of preservation was nowhere near

complete. All of the wooden artifacts, including the ship itself, had to undergo special

treatment. The reason being if the artifacts had been merely brought to the open air,they

would have been ruined. While waiting for preservation the artifacts had to be kept in

conditions that were like that at the bottom of the harbor. From there special anti-rotting

chemicals were slowly added to the water. This was done to preserve the wooden artifacts

until they could be properly dried. This was done with the help of two sixty-five foot long

baths. These contained a mixture of boric acid and borax to prevent rotting, and

polyethylene glycol 4000 that would slowly replace the water in the wood and prevent any

major shrinkage. The amount of time an artifact had to spend in the baths depended on the

type of wood and the size of the item. The average time in the baths was five months; some

of the larger pieces took upwards of two to three years (Kleigardt 1983: 18-21). The ship

itself as of June of 2001 was at almost 95% completion but because of the size it is sprayed

with a sprinkler like system every so often and is also coated by hand every few months

(Campbell 2001: 1).

There were also other methods used in the preservation of non-wooden artifacts

found with the Vasa. Cast iron pieces, although rusted were able to hold on to the original

carbon content, thereby allowing them to keep their original volume and shape. These

pieces were placed in large ovens with hydrogen gas and then heated to 1060°C this

process restores the cast iron to its original make up and removes the rust build up.
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 Logan Leslie Eastvold
Anth 200 World Prehistory
April 14, 2009
Dr. Melinda Leach

Complicated textile preservation was also required for the ship extra sails that were found

safely tucked in a deck locker. When they were originally found they were far too fragile to

even attempt to move. So they were carefully coated with alcohol and xylene to keep them

damp. From there they were attached to fiberglass backing then coated with ethylhexyl

acrylate, isobutyl acrylate and styrene plastic, this mixture was specially created by the

Stockholm Maritime Museum for this project. The styrene plastic is meant to protect the sails

from damage caused by air and ultra-violet light (Kleigardt 1983: 21-22).

All of this work could yet all go to waste, caused by a similar lack of knowledge that

caused the ship to sink in the first place. When the ship was raised from the deep in 1961,

the rusted out bolts that originally held the ship together were replaced with modern steel

bolts. Those bolts while going though the normal process of oxidation, are putting off sulfuric

acid that is causing the wood of the ship to deteriorate from the inside out. When planning

the preservation of the ship they were coming up with everything they could to stop the

sulfur in the wood from reacting with the oxygen in the air and putting off sulfuric acid.

However little did they know at the time the epoxy-coated bolt they chose to use to save

cost would cause the sulfuric acid to develop even faster. Scientist from all over Europe have

been working on the best possible solution to the problem but most of the possibilities that

have been explored would be very difficult to apply to such a large item. One thing that is

being done is to change out all of the steel bolts and replace them with new carbon-fiber

bolts which researchers hope will at least help stop the sulfur from reacting further (Vogel

2003: 1; Lindfors 2008: 3-4).

My investigation into the stunning warship, Vasa, has led me to a number of texts

written specifically about the ship, its excavations, and the beginning of itspreservation. The

tale of the Vasa is indeed an interesting one. Sadly, however, published works about the

continuing work are difficult to find. Nonetheless, a number of texts were indispensable to

my research. The first and most interesting being Wasa: Lost and Salvaged a text that was

available for purchase at the original Vasa museum. This text is made up of a number of
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 Logan Leslie Eastvold
Anth 200 World Prehistory
April 14, 2009
Dr. Melinda Leach

short chapters about such things as the sinking of the ship, the excavation, life on board the

ship, the preservation, and the sculptural decoration that covered the ship. This book was a

very good overview of all the events that related to the Vasa from start through part of the

preservation.

The Warship Vasa has also been very helpful in understanding the methods used to

raise the ship itself. However, it was published in 1974 so it ends just after the Vasa was

moved in to dry dock and the work of cleaning her out began. Nevertheless, it does include

a number of fascinating pictures and accompanying captions that help you visualize the

daunting work that the Swedish Navy divers faced in there large metal diving suits and

helmets.

Vasa I The Archaeology of a Swedish Warship of 1628 is by Carl Olof Cederlund, one

of the archaeological team leaders on the excavation itself. This is a very in depth text that

covers everything from the sinking and early salvage attempts to the day by day, and

sometimes hour by hour, accounts of the planning, lifts of the 1958 salvage, and the

excavation of the inside of the ship as well as the area around the original resting site. This

text is however, only the first volume and it only goes up through 1967 and the final diving

recovery attempts made. The second volume containing the information about the

preservation processes and museum has yet to be published and no future date could be

found.

A number of articles have helped in filling in a bit of the information relating to newer

issues with the Vasa including information on the permanent Vasa Museum that opened in

1990 and the sulfuric acid problems. These articles were much harder to find then the

books, mostly due to my personal inability to read Swedish. However, the texts I was able to

find added much-needed current information.