ABSTRACT
The royal warship Vasa set out on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628, with four sails set. Still within the harbour, the ship heeled over in a squall, water poured in through the open gun ports and the ship sank like a stone. She lay in the harbour until the 1950s when her location was rediscovered. Raised in 1961, and after an extensive period of conservation which is still ongoing, the Vasa now occupies a purpose-built building on Stockholm’s waterfront, an object of wonder for visitors to this, Sweden’s most visited and most spectacular museum.
