Myths

Myths and tall tales

Vasa has collected stories for four centuries. Some are true, some half true, and some were never true at all.

Vasa, the Swedish warship of 1628. Dates and figures come from the sources linked beside them; where sources disagree, we show each one.

1. MythThe king watched his new ship sink.

   FactThe king was not in Stockholm: he was with the army in Prussia, at war with Poland-Lithuania. The council’s first report went to him on 12 August, and his reply demanded that the guilty be punished. Vasa Museum

2. MythVasa sank because the king ordered changes after building began, such as an extra gundeck.

   FactSome historians blamed the king for changing the ship’s dimensions after building began, but Hocker’s measurements found no evidence for that. PRI, 2016 The builders said Vasa was built to Hybertsson’s design, which the king had approved. Hein Jakobsson added that he had widened the ship by around 40 centimetres. Vasa Museum

3. MythVasa sank in a gale.

   FactUnder the cliffs of Södermalm there was little wind. A small gust made her heel and slowly recover; at the gap in the cliffs at Tegelviken a stronger gust pushed her so far over that water poured in through the open lower gunports. Vasa Museum

4. MythNobody knew she was unstable until it was too late.

   FactBefore she sailed, captain Söfring Hansson had 30 men run back and forth across the deck while Vice Admiral Klas Fleming watched. The ship rolled so much that the test was stopped for fear she would capsize at the quay. Vasa Museum Fleming was overheard to say ‘If only His Majesty were at home!’, but he did not report it, and the king was pressing for the ship to go to sea. Vasa Museum

5. MythSomeone was punished for the loss.

   FactIn the end nobody was officially blamed or punished, and everyone questioned was eventually promoted. Vasa Museum Hein Jakobsson worked at the yard until 1638, building a string of large, successful ships; Söfring Hansson became supervising officer of the navy yard. Vasa Museum

6. MythThe wreck was lost and forgotten until 1956.

   FactThe museum says it is ‘a little misleading’ to call the wreck lost: it was on a 19th-century chart, divers visited it in the 1840s and 1860s, and the navy dive school trained on it. Vasa Museum In 1663–1665, 35 years after the sinking, divers led by Albrecht von Treileben and Andreas Peckell used a diving bell to bring up almost all of the cannon, which were sold abroad. Vasa Museum timeline

7. MythVasa was raised with all her guns aboard.

   FactIn 1663–1665, 35 years after the sinking, divers led by Albrecht von Treileben and Andreas Peckell used a diving bell to bring up almost all of the cannon, which were sold abroad. Vasa Museum timeline

8. MythVasa was found by luck.

   FactIn the early 1950s Anders Franzén, a fuel engineer in the navy and an amateur archaeologist, started searching for the navy’s lost ships, with Vasa near the top of his list. Vasa Museum A 1955 survey for a planned bridge showed a lump 50 metres long and six metres high off the Gustav V dry dock on Beckholmen. The navy diver Per Edvin Fälting knew it was not blasting rubble. Vasa Museum On 25 August 1956 Franzén’s home-made coring device brought up black oak; 20 metres further on, it did it again. Vasa Museum

9. MythThey raised her with ping-pong balls.

   FactIdeas such as filling the hull with ping-pong balls, or freezing it in a giant ice cube, were quickly dropped; the salvors would only use a proven method. Vasa Museum From 1957 to 1959 navy divers dug six tunnels under the ship and pulled steel cables through them to two pontoons, Oden and Frigg. Vasa Museum

10. MythWhat you see in the museum is mostly a reconstruction.

    FactMore than 98 per cent of the original structure survives, including masts and sails. Vasa Museum timeline

11. MythTwo kinds of ruler sank Vasa.

    FactRadio Sweden reported that the researchers do not think the uneven shape made Vasa sink, though it could have made her slightly less stable; the gunports, for example, are not in matching places on the two sides. Radio Sweden

12. MythThe ship is saved, so the work is finished.

    FactThe cradle that has held Vasa since the 1960s is damaging the hull. Its 17 pairs of supports are being replaced with 27 steel cradles plus an internal steel skeleton; the work began in April 2024. Vasa Museum The aim is to finish the new support by 2028, in time for the ship’s 400th anniversary, with the museum open as usual throughout. Vasa Museum