Vasa - From Concept to Maiden Voyage (Part 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 เม.ย. 2021
- This video would not have been possible without the wonderful assistance of Dr Fred Hocker and the Vasa Museum.
Today we start to look at the famous Swedish warship Vasa, beginning with why and how she was built, and what happened to her on her maiden voyage.
In later videos we will look at her salvage and preservation and more closely at her crew, decoration and equipment.
Sources:
Dr Fred Hocker - Director of Research, Vasa Museum
www.amazon.co.uk/Vasa-Frederick-M-Hocker/dp/9173291013
www.amazon.co.uk/Preserving-Vasa-Emma-Hocker/dp/1909492612
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
were you actually able to travel during covid to sweden and do the interview there?
@@senecanero3874 I was able to travel last year during a period when the restrictions were not as significant as they were towards the end of the year.
How do you pronounce Drachinifel? And what is the relevance of the name?
Alternate history question. Somehow the Axis counties are provided with the plans to make the Balao class submarine in 1935 and all of the leadership pour most of their naval resources into their construction. How does this change the outcome or does it delay the inevitable?
How useful were the secondary turrets in the centreline as on the Yamato class and on some American classes such as Des Moines class? Why were they so rare?
So the video is going to be longer than Vasa's career?
Oof
*Angry monarch noises*
Wonderful is brief. Like the Swedish Summer.
jcschutz.bandcamp.com/track/wonderful-is-brief-underbart-r-kort
Denmark approves of this message.
too soon
Ah finally.
A 5 min guide to the famous 5 min ship.
Like Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship SN10 that a couple of weeks ago landed successfully for the first time after a 10 km test flight. Or so it looked, only to detonate on the landing site after having been standing there for 8 minutes. Aerospace engineering is learning design procedures from the early 17th century!
@@bjorntorlarsson It landed at least
@@h0riz0n45 by that metric he's had a 100 percent success rate 😂
@@h0riz0n45 So did Vasa -- on the bottom of the harbour...
@@bennylofgren3208 Vasa also have a higher recovery rate then the mentioned SpaceX Starship SN10..
One thing I really like about this interview is that even though you are very knowledgeable about this this era and the ships in it you don’t feel the need to prove that or turning it into a pissing contest but let the curator tell his story. That’s class and a sign of a good interviewer in my opinion. Many thanks! Great video. Hope you keep them coming!
Well said Lars! Only a person secure in both their knowledge and in their skin in general could ride shotgun on their own platform.
@@buckchesterfield8886 He's smart enough to know he doesn't know everything and when he has a person who's really knowledgable about something he listens and learns.
Dr. Hocker looks the part of an old school professor: beard, older style 3 piece suit, and pocket watch chain. Perfect fit for Drach's channel.
He looks as old as the Vasa itself
@CreedOfHeresy Actually he has a sprits'l tops'l. Jibs hadn't been invented in 1628. But I like the cut of it too.
Disconcerting to hear a Yank accent (or maybe Canadian? But I'd place his accent in the upper half of the US, probably not coastal, either...somewhere between like Pennsylvania and Missouri). There's in interesting story, here.
And a big bump on his head from hitting beams while crawling through wooden ships. Just like me. But I got mine in a basement and thankfully it's hidden in my hairline. Cool dude. An expert in naval history and the war wounds to show for it.
@@matthewcoleman1919 A New Englander here - sounds Canadian to me.
The Church: Bronze makes great bells!
Gustav I: It makes even better cannons.
Most cannons were made out of bronze at the time. The main problem is they would get work hardened after too much firing and would become dangerous to fire.
@@austinm.9832 When Gustav I made Sweden Lutheran he grabbed a much silver and gold as he could to fund his army and he confiscated as much bronze as possible in order to forge cannons. A majority of these metals came from the churches
Also makes for excellent ballast.
Bells, Cannon... both great for making lots of noise XD
Mary Rose: I'll take a double helping of that action
Ok, Part One?
This is where the fun begins
Also last time I was this early, Vasa was the pride of the Swedish Nation
I read that in Anakin Skywalker's voice.
Yes it is
@@josephthomas8318 why
@@THEgodofAzurlanenodebate It's his line. Star Wars prequels have become a deep, deep well of memes lately.
Props to Dr. Fred Hocker for maintaining a real sense of dignity and propriety in being Director of Research for a ship whose entire career consisted of "from right here, to just over there". And Drach's questioning is so British polite.. as a US citizen my first question would have been "So, do you have any museums in Sweden for ships that could actually float, or..."
Actually we do :D
@@wigge123wigge123 Dang, I was hoping for some comment like "No, but we do have a functioning healthcare system.." lol
Usually in Swedish successful wars the army caries the day, but not before the fleet is horribly lost due to bad weather, bad luck or incompetence... sometimes all three
@@darrellsmith4204 This looks bad for the kingdom Johnsson. Scramble our best spin team.
@@TheSlyngel Hahaha! True that!!😁👍 Also.. I guess that's why the army still to this day heavily looks down on the navy (as well as the air force, though considerably more towards the navy) Flottist jävlar!😈
Just started watching this, but I have a sinking feeling about it....
You just need to roll with it.
A truly terrible pun
ILOVE IT!😆😅🤣😂
I rolled. over this comment.
Don't worry, it'll be a breeze.
I was immersed...
I loved the point about physics and metaphysics: "no need to paint a modern warship grey"!
We have documentaries and WW2 reruns to handle the metaphysical aspect these days.
Could paint the damned things flame red.
I say we bring back the Great White Fleet paint job as seen on the Olympia in Philadelphia. I really want to see an Arleigh Burke destroyer in that scheme.
**Justin Trudeau takes notes, immediately orders what’s left of the Canadian navy painted in a rainbow pattern.**
@@RCAvhstape or the RN Edwardian scheme. that would be a hell of a sight!
The height of the tween decks is something that really makes things clear for me. From the outside, whilst tall, Vasa never looked outrageously different from other Great ships, but with that overly-heavy build, and six foot odd space between decks on a narrow beam, really makes sense quite how quickly that topweight adds up.
The height makes it a comfortable visit as a museum ship!
As a "race-built galleon" (what was called a "razee" in the 18th Century), Vasa would have been a very dangerous opponent. While she'd have lost (guessing) just under half her guns (making her new rate something around a 44...hmmm, where have I run across that before? 😏) losing a whole overly heavy deck could well have given her enough stability to retain much of her rig, making her potentially a very fast ship for her time. Give her full-weight 24-pounders as chasers for a bit of extra punch fore and aft, and you basically have a 17th Century version of HMS Indefatigable...or USS Constitution (another very heavily built, heavily armed single-deck warship). Such a pity she didn't survive long enough to have a chance of that happening.
@@christopherreed4723 The reduced topweight would have brought her lower gunports higher above the water, making the guns usable in more sea states. Many multideck ships couldn't open their lower ports in any kind of seaway.
@@christopherreed4723 Race-built and Razees where two different, but similar, ships. Race-built, or Raze-built, where purpose built to the design as opposed to a razee, one that had been built larger, but had a deck (or forecastle and quartdeck) removed after a time.
@@emm4rmstrong I know. I used them as examples. If Vasa had survived her maiden voyage and (one hopes) promptly returned to the shipyard to have her upper deck cut away, she would have been a razee...although the term wouldn't have been applied to her at the time, since it only entered the vocabulary some time later.
I love that even back then they got to the root of the problem saying the ship didn't have enough belly and learned from the mistake. Fancinating discussion, thank you. (also damn you timer)
Draft too shallow
Architect:"Ain't she beauti...hmm that can't be good. Oh well, Back to the drawing board."
@@korbell1089 he didnt even get into the big fight that happened after the sinking of each person trying to pass off blame yet.
I had wondered at the decorations of the age of sail. Your guest eloquently compared those with the almost universal grey of modern warships. Those decorations, then and now, said "Fear my owner, don't mess with me!" Thanks Drach, another question answered.
The Swedish Navies pride and joy, a warship which sank just after leaving for her maiden voyage … hey, we embrace our failures 😜
Right there in the harbor! Yikes!
Makes a great museum though!! So worth it in the end.
We are so happy, unfortunately they built other ships.
But hey, our suburb to the Danish capital was once the home of the king of Sweden (during the great siege 1658-1659)
Its ok m8. We Brits capsized the Mary Rose. So we all learn through our mistakes.
Damn wind
This was pure ASMR. Bright men speaking calmly about stuff they know a lot about.
Then the camera timed out.
Please bring this old fashioned professor back sometime.
Many thanks to Dr. Fred Hocker.
Congrats on your well organized and delivered responses.
You, Sir, are a *good* teacher.
2:50 Denmark also had a land border. Skåne, Halland and Blekinge were Danish up until 1658. What we today call Southern Sweden was originally core Danish territory, the King was for example crowned in Skåne, and much of the nobility came from Skåne. Bornholm and the small island of Anholt are the last remaining bits of the old Skåneland still in Danish hands.
And then there was that little border that reached from the walls of Gothenburg north to the wilderness areas in Lappland where Swedish, Danish and Russian claims overlapped... Technically that's longer than any other land border between two European powers, both then and now.
Only half right. Everything south of Dalaälven is south of Sweden. At leaat to us born in the north. By the way: the middle of the country geographicly is somewhere around Östersund, maybe a bit south of that. From there, you have the same length to Treriksröset in the north to the most southern point in Skåne. And no. I do not live in the north. Could not stand to fumble around without a proper job in the early 90's. So I moved where there was work to be had.
It is just that the borders with Denmark-Norway were geographically impassable for a larger army at the time. And no invasion of any depth ever occurred throughout the quarter of a millennia that a dozen wars were fought (that's a new war every twenty years). Norway is shielded off by the mountains and the Danish holdings in south Scandinavia by the forests of Småland. So naval warfare was very important for Sweden against its arch enemy brother people. But it was always hard since the Danes were good at that stuff.
So what turned out to be decisive was to enter Denmark from the south through Germany, which the Swedish King Charles X Gustav did in 1657, telling the protesting neutral German principalities he crossed through (from one of several futile Swedish wars in Poland) the classic: _"If you are not with me, you are against me!"_ Not exactly the Swedish neutrality stance in the 20th century. The Danish King was actually euphoric in a letter to his allied Austrian emperor, that the Swedish King was now trapped "like a pig in a poke" on the peninsula of Jutland as the emperor's vastly larger army approached and the superior Danish navy staved off the Swedish navy. However, it was during the little ice age (the long Maunder sunspot minimum) and the Baltic sounds froze over so hard that the Swedish King could march across to unprepared Copenhagen. All Danish territory on the southern Scandinavian peninsula were surrendered in a peace treaty. Naval power doesn't count when the enemy army can do like Jesus and walk on water.
@@bjorntorlarsson I find your comment strange. If the borders were impassable to armies, no one must have informed the monarchs of the Vasa era of that, as they would always take command of an army invading accross the borders to attempt to take strong points and take part in the traditional burning of the enemy's towns.
@@greghall4836 Only the border fortress towns of Kalmar and Älvsborg on the Swedish side. Danish admiral/general Rantzau landed a small army in Sörmland just south of Stockholm in the 16th century, but quickly left. Do you have any other examples?
The area between the then Danish part of southern Scandinavia and (the economically) central Scandinavia is still today quite the wilderness. Germans like to buy small old houses there because it is as exotic as Siberia, or Germania during antiquity to them. You can walk all day through the pine tree forest without meeting anyone. It's about 100 km from the then Danish border to Jönköping, which would've had a good warning time to prepare for a siege. And I don't know of any Danish campaign ever reaching Jönköping, but I can have missed something. There are no Drachinifel style podcasts about Swedish history, unfortunately. And the libraries have almost no books about it. It is a subject that has seen utterly little research in the last several decades.
As a Professional Engineer and retired Naval Engineering Officer, Dr. Hocker's comment that calculus hadn't been invented caused me to pause. My goodness where would you even begin a ship design without being able to calculate center of buoyancy, center of gravity, metacentric height, prismatic coefficient, block coefficient, ETC. It would take a Captain with guts, to sail out of harbor without KNOWING the ship isn't tender and likely to capsize. An entertaining and informative video as usual. Well done, sir.
An old account reported that they did an inclining experiment, and knew she was tender. Not something you tell the king.
In the late 1970's i had the 1/144 Airfix model of Vasa. Back then, it was one of my most prized toys. Back then i didn't even know about it's special history. But i truly loved it. Since then, Vasa has a very special place in my heart - not for it's real-world history, but for my own childhood connection with it. Maybe one day, i'll buy that kit and build and paint it. My thanks to Drachinifel for giving his attention to this ship. I'll really enjoy this series
I had the same model kit in the early 90ies, until I loaded it with marble ballast in the bathtub, shot it to sinking with my elder brothers Air pistol and then set fire to it on the concrete stairs of the front entrance to my parents house... I think I was between 7-9yo at the time XD
@@SonsOfLorgar your model may have suffered a worse fate than the real thing! Hard to do :)
@@SonsOfLorgar I gave a large plastic model bizmark the BB gun treatment, sank it in the tub, then raised it and patched the holes with modeling clay and did it a few more times. Great fun lol.
I had the same kit. Even bought it at the museums gift shop. I remember the instructions and artwork called for the decorations to be painted in mostly blue and gold. That was before they knew the actual (a lot more colorful) paint scheme I guess.
The cogent explanation of the warship’s psychic value as a mobile representation of a country’s ability and determination to project power when and where deemed appropriate is much appreciated. It illustrated an old-school bit of good advice, expressed as ‘Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum. ‘
Just brilliant, Drach....and the erudite Doctor. I came for WW2 but you are progressively dragging my fascination back in time to the age of sail....and beyond!!!
I thought the guy form the museum was pretty interesting and knowledgeable on the era.
Quite interesting. Sounded like an American or Canadian. If so, kudos to him for making it as an expert of the Vasa Museum!
I agree, I'd like to spend a day talking to him about ship of the period. He was very interesting.
@@donleaman2018 , at least we get to live vicariously through Drach. Hehe.
@@SwiftTrooper5 I had the same thought. He's the least Swedish sounding Swede I've ever encountered.
And I grew up in a city in the midwest US settled almost entirely by Swedes.
@@SwiftTrooper5 Dr. Frederick Hocker has a Ph.D from Texas A&M University which, coupled with his accent, makes it plausible the man is American.
"Titanic sinks on maiden voyage"
Vasa: *First time?*
Titanic managed to get to Cherbourg and Queenstown. Bismarck had some fun in Baltics. Vasa went down 1.3km from shipyard.
...Titanic, Shinano and Bismarck: "...welcome to the club...!" ;-)
Great Eastern: "Oh the hell with this! I ain't going in that stuff!"
Hunley: Amateurs!
VOC Batavia has joined the chat
The Baltic sea area is so fascinating in terms of naval history. I especially like the Napoleonic & Crimean war eras.
There was a lot of wars in Baltic before. There was Swedish-Polish war in 17th century, then long series of Russian-Swedish wars in 18th century.
@@mancubwwa Yeah, and Drach should have a look at the battle of Svensksund in the Gulf of Finland 1790. 60-90 ships sunk, 90% Russian. :-D The frigate Saint Nikolai has been a treasury for marine archaeologists.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Svensksund
@@mancubwwa Yep yep. Even the dutch & British got involved in thier quite a few times. What other outsider fought there?
An author named R C Anderson published books called Naval Wars in the Baltic 1522 - 1850 and Naval Wars in the Levant 1159 - 1853. If you can find them, probably through inter-library loan, they probably cover what you would be interested in, although in obsessive detail. The library of the University of Victoria has copies which I read almost 50 years ago.
@@chrisvickers7928 Thanks for the suggestions mate! I will definitely look them up.
And one suggestion for future interviews; add a digital audio recorder to your AV bag. They are simple, inexpensive, have a decent audio quality and make a great backup for when the high-fidelity gear soils the sheets. Cheers!
I could listen to Dr. Hocker all day. Is it not wonderful to listen to pure facts and not 1/2 fact, 1/2 opinion/editorial? This interview is a gift. Thanks for getting it.
The standard of scholarship and production of Part 1 of the "Vasa" series is terrific. I'm really looking forward to the subsequent part(s). Top work Drach!
I want to add that the museum is a must see if you ever have the opportunity.
Exceptional presentation! Thanks to Drachinifel and Dr. Fred Hocker for an intelligent and clear conversation involving placing the causes and effects of the Vasa in time and space. I don't know whether this is the kind of effort that 'came together' or involved much prep work and production effort (in this age of Covid I suspect the latter) but the net effect is to blend history with engineering technology and a bit of physics to make me know something I didn't know before. Reminiscent of the series done by James Burke. Great Stuff.
I saw the Vasa in an older exhibit back in 1984, which was the only time I've been to Stockholm. I still remember the ship and the child's storybook about it, which my mother bought for me.
When I took European history, Vasa became symbolic of the House of Vasa, which had competing factions on the throne of Sweden, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, and pretended to rule Russia at this time. Pride and fights on all sides tempts nemesis. Similarly, pride and too many guns lead to a sunken ship
If you ever return to these necks of the woods, I highly recommend a return visit to the museum. It has been completely remade since you were here last, and it is even more interesting now.
@@bennylofgren3208 I have family in and around Malmo and Gothenburg. I'd love to see Stockholm again as an adult. Sweden has changed so much since the 1980s. Of course, international travel right now is a little difficult. Hopefully this will change soon.
@@ronmaximilian6953 You would be most welcome! I hope restrictions lift soon and things start going back to normal again.
Vasa is launched:
also the Vasa a few minutes later
Try spinning that’s a good trick
Admiral to captain:"The king is watching so I want you to give him a show he won't forget!"
"Do a barrel roll!"
It wanted to be a Kayak doing a "Greenlandic Turn" and failed.
I visited this fantastic museum back in 2010. I'd recommend it for anyone with an interest in naval history. Funny how no one told Gustavus his ornate and expensive ship was useless!
Telling your king bad news is not always for the faint of heart... :)
WOW.....Those diorama's of the shipyard were absolutely stunning.........excellent interview/conversation.......yeah agree with a comment below.....I could have listened to this for days.
Hope the prank is also covered in this series. That it self is a hilarious story.
What prank?
@@JohnSmith-kg2rt Some Finnish students put a small statue on the ship before it was raised up...
@@teme82 what was the statue portraying
@@JohnSmith-kg2rt A finnish long distant runner and national treasure Paavo Nurmi
When the Swedes were about to raise the Wasa, a bunch of students from the Helsinki University of Technology ( nowadays Aalto University ) did dive on her and placed a statuette of Paavo Nurmi ( the athlete ) on the deck of the ship. At first the Swedes believed that they had found a statuette of Mercury until it dawned on them that someone was playing a joke on them. I wonder where that particular Paavo Nurmi statuette is nowadays ? I knew some of the chaps that did pull of the trick.
Prank of the century.
There is actually a small collection of unofficial memorabilia from the salvage, stored down in the pontoon. (Off-limits for regular visitors)
I recall a diver's helmet signed by all the divers and some other stuff. It is almost like a time capsule of late 1950’s humor.
I can't say I saw Paavo Nurmi down there but that story sounds familiar...
It is a great prank! I hope someone kept the statue.
The top weigh issues keeps coming up. Even in WW2 this comes up, so for the first ship of its type it’s an impressive feat even with sinking so fast.
I first came across Drach's channel back when its library of videos was very small, all of them were robo-voiced. Nevertheless, I was intrigued with the videos' style of presentation and the amount of knowledge they provided that I stuck around for more. Even back then, from the beginning I had always wanted to see a presentation from Drach about the Vasa -- I finally got my wish! 👍
🎶 Du gamla du fria du fjällhöga nord … 🎶 🇸🇪
🎶Du tysta du glädjerika sköna....🎶🇸🇪❤🏴
I just realize that whatever is the type of Drach s video from short to 50min 5min video' live video or even cooking one not a single one is not at least a good one. Thanks for another stunning document on naval history!
oh more more more please - what a thoroughly nice bloke Dr Hocker is.
Thank you Drach for making a video on the most famous ship from my country.
And Sweden vs Denmark is sort of constant conflict like England vs France.
Would love to se the final part on Admiral Nelson.
these interviews with experts are great, this plus western approaches are tops
If you are even in Stockholm and have even a little interest in historical things (as you might being in this channel), the Vasa museum is certainly worth a visit.
Drac, I can tell you that the reason for the time limit on video is due to a difference in import duties charged on cameras which can record more than 30minutes.....so most still cameras/phones which can record video will only record 29:59 of video and then time out.
Was going to mention the same thing. An absolutely ridiculous arcane and outdated regulation. Frustrates me to no end
Unfortunately it's in the customs tariff and changing it requires international agreement...... And that's not going to happen!
@@steveclarke6257 Now now , dont be like that. Surely you know as well as I that change will come , only downside I can think of is that probebly neither of ous will be around when that happens /s
This brings back memories from my childhood, I most have been there over a 100 times :)
A lot have been called the greatest ship of her day. It's rare for us to pick, the actual day.
As a plastics expert, I hope the next video talks in detail about the cool process for preserving Vasa (also the Mary Rose) where PEG polymer is sprayed to replace water and essentially plasticize the ship.
th-cam.com/video/EzagNAVvMSM/w-d-xo.html
I remember getting to see the Vasa in 2011, it was such a sight to see something of that scale and age up close, even with the story of the ship itself.
I love the Swedes they have such a weird sense of humour and clearly an unconventional sense of pride too. Having pride in a ship that sunk on its maiden voyage to most would seem weird or even silly, a unique and interesting people to say the least.
A more extreme failure than the mary rose
Swedes are lovely, Sweden... not so much, better get back under Danish administration 😉
@@PalleRasmussen Sweden spawned Sabaton. It's clearly a superior civilization.
@@PalleRasmussen Naaaah, I would rather see sweden burn to the ground thanks to the social demokrats than allow denmark to rule over sweden again.
Stockholm is a beautiful archipelago with some unappreciated history and culture. My visit was amazing, and I much preferred it to most central European locations that many sre drawn to.
Cant wait for part 2. You should cover the mary rose in this format 👍
Dr Hocker is a joy to watch and listen to. Grerat contribution!
(Also, quite a pity that the footage on ships, fortifications and deployment of technology is lost. This would have been interesting.)
A multi parter? This should be longer than her maiden voyage
Thats.... Very possibly true.....
What maiden voyage?
@@Firebolt193 Maiden “outing” perhaps?
It's amazing how good of shape it's in after sitting centuries at the bottom
Anybody who is into ships really must visit the Vasa museum.....the atmosphere there is incredible. worth going to stockholm just for that...along with a Lattol and warm kov on a nice swedish summers day!
I am in the process of assembling the DeAgostini Vasa. These videos add depth to my work. They are the 'why' of the vessel.
That curator is one serious dude! Drach's humourous musings elicited not so much as a chuckle nor even the ghost of a smile.
What a fantastic interview, I could listen to you two chat all day.
I could listen to this all day long. The Vasa Museum is very impressive. I would really love to revisit it.
Super highly recommend seeing this ship in person It was fantastic
Dr. Hocker is excellent. Very clear, logical explanation.
Amazing video! (note that Denmark had 2 land borders to Sweden -- one in the south of Sweden and 2nd Norway -- although that is not the best and most practical invasion route)
Hello! I´m from sweden and have been to the vasamuseum a couple of times and it´s very interesting. Sad story what happened to the ship though. Thanks for a very interesting vlogg :)
Always thought of the Vasa as an almost comedic failure. It was very educational and interesting to see, that there is a lot more to it, in this fine video. I especially liked the historic and industrial context provided to the ships design. Nicely done!
Ohh, i have been anticipating this with great interest... As a swede, our glorious failure is one for the history books.. :)
A miniseries on the _Vasa?_ *Outstanding!*
Thank you, Drachinifel.
Oh yes! So excited to watch this. I visited the Vasa museum in Stockholm in 2015 and have been telling people about it ever since.
Finally VASA video. Ship that is a perfect metaphor how top management can ruin everything.
Well, with the fact that at that time nobody including the shipwright could calculate the ship stability, I think it is too easy to just blame "that big guy up there". It took some time before af Chapman developed the concept of ship architecture.
It wasn’t the first, Mary Rose was lost for the same reason about 80 years earlier and that was the result of a refit.
This guy's voice is almost identical to the curator of USS New Jersey....it's chilling
Hmm you're right. Must be same model ;)
Be greatful for that, some older people speak a very cringe english that is flat out embarrassing to listen to when it is a politician for instance.
Fascinating. As a Swede I've always heard (not so flattering) facts about the story of Regalskepppet Vasa. I've also visited the museum many years ago. But this is actually the first time I understood the ship in a historical context of naval warfare and ship design. Great info, thanks!
Saw the Vasa in person this summer. Absolutely nuts how well it's kept
I love the irony of the 21st century technology cutting out just as you're discussing 17th century tech.... very _apropos!_ LOL Thanks for a fascinating interview with Dr Hocker.... I was so intrigued & engaged in the discussion that I actually called out "noooo!" when you said the camera shut itself off! On to part 2.... ⚓
I recall a lovely children’s book my mother used to read to me about the Vasa. I have a painting, or rather a print of a painting, of her. Despite having no Swedish ancestry, I like to think I have a small connection to her regardless.
Note 1) borders: Finland was not a nation on it's own at the time. It was part of Sweden. Hence the land border with Russia. The region of Skåne was part of Denmark, so they had the seaway in and out of the Baltic inside their own borders.
Is Göteborg nothing to you? 😉
The thing is that the great powers did not want a single power to control Øresund, so they set us on each other.
@@PalleRasmussen
You shouldn't dismiss the importance of native ambition om the part of our ruling houses though. One of the facts that lead to the Kalmar War was the ambiguity över exactly who owned the väst territory of Swedish and Finnish Lappland, as well as the vast majority of Northern Norway away from the narrow strip along the coast that was actually inhabited by Norwegian.
The renaissance mindset and the Lutheran nation state which it created was incredible opposed to the quilt of overlapping sovereignities that was the norm for the preceding medieval world. And war was how the great renaissance princes solved these territoreal ambiguities.
Hello from the Wasa Museum!
Don't know if that is Dr. Hocker's usual work attire. But if it is or isn't, I'm glad to see it. You almost never see anyone today wearing a three piece suit with watch chain. I own several expensive three-piece suits and it sucks that I rarely get to wear them anymore. Plus, wearing that ensemble adds to his scholarly air in combination with his vast knowledge of the subject matter.
You mean to tell me that the ship capsizing in about 45 minutes is not the most important part?
I beg to differ, I find this sudden failure of upright buoyancy and it's best impression of a wooden submarine diving very interesting.
Been to that museum, pretty awesome.. reminds me of some of the current top heavy cruise ships.
Sweden's maritime history is underestimated. Not only did Sweden build some of the worlds largest warships of the 1600's. But it was also the country where most other countries bought their naval supplies of oak tree, iron, copper, rope, and tar. This gave Sweden a unique advantage as a naval power which other countries did not have.
The Swedish navy and merchant navy was also depending on the year, among the worlds largest.
French, British and Dutch traders took their ships to Sweden and asked for the permission to sail under the Swedish flag and pay Swedish taxes in times of war. And since England and the Netherlands fought many wars against each other in the late 1600's it became very practical to sail under the neutral Swedish flag
to avoid getting their ships attacked by the enemy and stolen or sunk.
So during the war years of the late 1600s did roughly one and a half thousand ships sail under Swedish flag. And when the war was over would about only about five hundred or so remain in Swedish service.
Sweden also had Lasse Gathenielm, its own naval "hero" ("pirate" is probably a more fitting term) of the early 1700's.
His job as a privateer was to attack merchant shipping of countries which were at war with Sweden or supported Sweden's enemies. The difference between a privateer and a pirate was that the government had given permission to attack ships of a certain nationality.
Lasse was very successful in plundering and stealing enemy ships. But he did do his job because it made him rich, and patriotism was not something he cared about.
He also plundered ships of neutral nations, and did so often that Britain and the Netherlands started to escort their merchant ships not only in the Baltic sea but also in the Atlantic because attacks had become so frequent.
Britain alone lost 136 ships to Swedish privateers on the Swedish west coast. And many many hundreds of ships fell victims to Swedish privateers. So the royal navy gathered 300 warships in a great projection of power to show their disappointment with Sweden's aggressive naval policies during the Great Northern war. It was a sharp signal of threatening Sweden with war if it did not stop attacking British ships.
But the privateers felt no reason to stop. They got rich from stealing ships and selling their cargo. They even plundered Swedish inside Stockholms harbor, and they changed public opinion in favor of Sweden's enemies as they dragged the Netherlands and Britain into war against Sweden - which was already having enough problems with alone fighting for its own survival against an enemy coalition of Denmark-Norway, Poland, Saxony, Brandenburg, Hanover and Russia.
The Swedish King saw the diplomatic problems in all this. This was a 1700's version of Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare during World war 1. But the King also feared that his chances of getting back the Baltic provinces that the Russians had stolen from him would diminish if they could start benefitting from the trade income they generated and all war materials that could be transported from their harbors.
And the war at sea had been successful in many ways for Sweden. Privateers had nearly brought Denmark to its knees as trade between Denmark and Norway had been nearly totally destroyed and supplies to Danish troops in Norway had been cut off. Denmark was a sea empire, and its merchant navy was sinking at a fast rate and would things continue at this path, then all of Denmark's merchant fleet would soon being laying down at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean.
So so far had Lasse Gathenhielms adventures been successful.
He did even make up plans to join forces with the largest pirate fleet in the world in Madagascar, and getting the famous John Norcross and his thousands of pirates and 60 warships to join the great Northern war on Sweden's side, along with the Swedish navy and the 150 warships of Swedish privateers. Negotiations were made to station them in city Göteborg. But the plans ended when the Swedish King died in 1718 and the war came to an end.
Dr. Fred Hocker was great.
Oh yes, as a finn im excited to hear your thoughts on Paavo Nurmi statue found on board ;)
Was lucky to be able to visit the Vasa when visiting Stockholm! Expecting another great video from you, Drach
New subscriber from Sweden 🇸🇪 here!
Very interesting to watch this video with more detailed discussion about the construction of the Wasa ship.
Maybe after you completed your investigation of the Wasa ship you could do a video about the Swedish ship “Mars Makalös” that sank to the bottom of the sea north of the island Öland in May 1564.
Mars Makalös was a ship build at the request of king Erik XIV who was the son of Gustav Wasa.
In 2011 Mars Makalös was found at 75 meters depth. At the time it was built it is supposed to have been the largest war ship in the world with up to 107 cannons, from 48 pounders as the most heavy ones to 12 pounders.
I also think that Erik XIV maybe was ahead of his time thinking on artillery line tactics more than entering close battle for capturing enemy ships.
Anyway, interesting video and keep up the good work in upcoming videos!😊🇸🇪
Fantastic video. Very interesting hearing from another expert's POV.
A popular historian (not an academic) claimed in his book that a later Swedish King short on money tried to sell Vasa cheap for cash to a foreign power. Advertising her with an original drawing side on. With a discrete horizontal line through her masts, representing the waterline. I suppose it could represent a contemporary joke.
Very sensible comments by the Swedish expert, another top rated vid.
John
As always brilliant, thank you !!!
One minor correction; also Denmark had land-border with Sweeden. -Many complicated elements, but maybe the most lojal subjects to the danish crown were the Norwegians with an indeed very long land-border. Norway was, contrary to common belief today, very much a part of Denmark, like Jutland or the German parts of the realm. Yours Jens, Oslo
I deplore the loss of teh rest of that discussion. It was really a most interesting topic
Thanks for this video drach. Exceptional quality
Great story! Ill be visiting this ship in December. Covid willing.
Been waiting eagerly for this one.
Dr Hocker is worthy of being on Drach's channel. Nuff said
Thank you Drach for this
Have you though about the ships from the lost franklin expedition? HMS terror and her steam engine.
I second this! I think it would be fascinating to learn more about them!
@@jamesharding3459 so much to learn about the modifications of the vessels, the history before the expedition.
Not to mention HMS Terror was shooting the "bombs bursting in air" at Fort McHenry.
Fantastic video, Drach.
Thank you. This is a fascinating story.
Cant wait for part 2!
Marvelous
If you go to Stockholm Harbor there is a small island by the amusement park that has three dry docks (one large and two small) on it oposite where the Viking Line ferries lay in Stockholm.
Right outside those docks is where the Vasa sank.
I knew this video was coming and I knew I would love it.