Ship Modelling

Swedish Royal Ship Wasa (1628)

(In Swedish, there are two spellings in use: Wasa and Vasa, both pronounced "Vasa")

Data

Type/Class: Dimensions: Decks: Armament: Rigging: Crew:
Swedish Royal Ship
  • Total Length: 69m
  • Width: 11m
  • Height: 52m
    		• Stepped Deck
    5 decks, 2 gun decks     		64 guns on 2 decks 3 masted full rigger
  • 3-3-2 yards (fore-main-mizzen)
    		• 145 sailors, 300 soldiers

    The Wasa today in the Vasamuseet, Stockholm     		We could say that this is ship re-modelling - in 1:1 scale, reusing original parts :)

    History

    1626-28: Built in Stockholm.

    1628: She sunk on her maiden voyage shortly after leaving the harbor, after just one nautical mile! This is what made her so famous ...

    Later investigations showed that "she was well built as any other ship of her time, but she was ill proportioned". The Swedish king (who could not be blamed, of course) wanted 2 gun decks instead of one, which lifted her gravity center so she was "top-heavy". The open gun ports let in water when a squall blew into her topsails, and the loose ballast moved to port ... the ship sunk soon, and about 50 people were perished.

    The flagg tops were still above the water, and some of her equippment was salvaged.

    Then the ship was forgotten for about 300 years ...

    1956: Anders Franzén rediscovered the Wasa.

    1959-61: The Wasa was salvaged and stored in a special dock for preservation works. Those continued over a decade ...

    1987: Ship opened to the public in the Vasamuseet in Stockholm. The Wasa is the oldest sailing warship preserved in the world.

    Sources for Research

    A good introduction is the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

    The reconstruction of the Wasa concentrated of course on the hull, because it had survived astonishingly well.

    From her rigging, some parts could be salvaged, including some rope fragments and 2 sails (presumably the spritsail and a topgallant) that were still stowed under deck. What her rigging really looked like will never be known for sure, but the reconstruction of her rigging can still be preformed by using other contemporary ships and their depictions as a pattern. Many attempts had been made, many solutions are possible.

    The modern reconstructions shows the following, typical shape of a Royal Ship of the 17th century:

    This reconstruction was made by the Swedish marine historian and Wasa curator Eva-Marie Stolt. As there are no contemporary images of the Wasa (there were no maritime artists in Sweden in that era), research was done on which "prototype" the Wasa had been built upon. The conclusion was that the shipbuilder, Arent Hybertsson, used a Dutch coppar engraving of the French Royal Ship "Le Saint Louis", alias "Navire Royale" (French, which can be translated as "Royal Ship" - without a name or "The Ship 'Royale'"); that ship was built in the Netherlands for the French Navy. The engraving was reused many times in many contemporary publications as a pattern how a royal ship looked like or should look like in general:

    The rigging on this image was eventually the pattern for the reconstruction of the Wasa.

    Books

    TITLEAUTHORPUBLISHERYEARPAGES
    En bok om skeppet Wasa
    (Swedish)    		 Hafström, Georg Christofers Bokförlag 1959 202
    Med Vasa på Strömmens botten
    (Swedish)    		 Fålting, Per Edvin Gebers AWE 1961 116
    Regalskeppet Vasan från början till slutet
    (Swedish)    		 Landström, Björn Rahm & Stenström Interpublishing 1980 158
    Skulpturer (Regalskeppet Wasa)
    (Swedish)    		 Soop, Hans LiberFörlag 1978 152
    The Swedish Warship WASA
    (English)    		 Ohrelius+Kvarning The Macmillan Press 1973 36
    The Wasa her place in history
    (English)    		 Naish, George P.B. National Maritime Museum 1968 24
    Utblickar kring tillkomsten av skeppet WASA
    (Swedish)    		 Hafström, Georg Statens sjöhistoriska museum 1968 150
    Varför kantrade Vasa ?
    Vasastudier 12 (Swedish)    		 Borgenstam, C + Sandström, A Vasamuseet, Stockholm 1984/1995 80
    Vasa - Regalskeppet i ord och bild
    (Swedish)    		 Franzén, Anders Norstedts/Bonniers 1966 88
    Vasa, kungens skepp
    (Swedish)    		 Ohrelius, Bengt Rabén & Sjögren 1959 96
    Wasa fynd och bärgning
    (Swedish)    		 Clason+Franzén Norstedts/Bonniers 1959 64
    Wasa, kungens skepp
    (Swedish)    		 Ohrelius+Kvarning LiberFörlag 1978 183
    Wasa, kungens skepp
    (Swedish)    		 Ohrelius+Kvarning Rabén & Sjögren 1972 174
    Äventyret Vasa
    (Swedish)    		 Widding, Lars Gebers AWE 1961 202

    You may want to consult this excellent book list, too: http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Bibliography/Wasa.html

    Reconstructions

    The Rigging

    The Wasa has a typical full rigging of the 17th century:
  • 3 yards at fore and main mast
  • 1 lateen sail and a topsail on the mizzen mast
  • 1 yard at the bowsprit.

    • The Standing Rigging

    Bowsprit - Fore Mast

    Fore Mast - Main Mast

    Main Mast - Mizzen Mast

    Mizzen Mast

    Topgallant Mast
    • single stay
    • 1 backstay
    • 2 shrouds
    • single stay
    • 1 backstay
    • 2 shrouds
    • single stay
    • 1 backstay
    • 2 shrouds

    Topmast
    • single stay
    • 1 backstay
    • 5 shrouds
    • single stay
    • 1 backstay
    • 5 shrouds
    • single stay
    • 1 backstay
    • 4 shrouds

    Lower Mast
    • 3 guys (over spritsail yard)
    • martingale guys (dolphin striker)
    • 3 water stays
    • 2 bowsprit shrouds
    • double stay
    • 8 shrouds
    • 1 truss (lower yard)
    • double stay
    • 9 shrouds
    • 1 truss (lower yard)
    • single stay
    • staysail stay
    • 5 shrouds
    • 1 truss (lateen yard)

    The Running Rigging

    Bowsprit

    Fore Mast

    Main Mast

    Mizzen Mast

    Topgallant Sails

    3rd yard

    Fore Topgallant

    • 1 Halyard
    • 2 Topping Lifts
    • 2 Sheets
    • 2 Clewlines
    • 2 Braces

    Main Topgallant

    • 1 Halyard
    • 2 Topping Lifts
    • 2 Sheets
    • 2 Clewlines
    • 2 Braces

    Top Sails

    2nd yard

    Sprit Topsail

    • 1 Halyards
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)

    Fore Topsail

    • 2 Halyards (p.+s.)
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Leechlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Buntlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Bowlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)
    • 2 Reef Tackles (p.+s.)

    Main Topsail

    • 2 Halyards (p.+s.)
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Leechlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Buntlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Bowlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)
    • 2 Reef Tackles (p.+s.)

    Mizzen Topsail

    • 1 Halyard (p.+s.)
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Leechlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Buntlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Bowlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)

    Lower Sails / Courses

    lower yard

    Spritsail

    • 1 Halyards
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Buntlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)

    Fore Course

    • (fixed in a rack)
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets, 2 Tacks (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Leechlines (p.+s.)
    • 4 Buntlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)

    Main Course

    • (fixed in a rack)
    • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
    • 2 Sheets, 2 Tacks (p.+s.)
    • 2 Clewlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Leechlines (p.+s.)
    • 4 Buntlines (p.+s.)
    • 2 Braces (p.+s.)

    Crossjack

  • yard only, no sail
  • 1 sling
  • 2 Topping Lifts (p.+s.)
  • 2 Braces (p.+s.)

    • Stay Sails
    Fore and Aft Sails

    Lateen Sail

    • 1 Halyard, 1 Peak Lift
    • 2 Gaff Vangs
    • 2 Sheets
    • 4-6 Brails
    These are the lines to be belayed ...

    Belaying Positions

    This is 100% speculation for the Wasa, even if we actually KNOW about her hull and deck layout! NO original plans survived (it can be assumed that they never existed), and not even a contemporary artists´ picture that could tell anything about her rigging!

    OK. Despite all this, here is my guess, based on the sail plan reconstruction by Stolt, some plans for modern models of the ship, and the experience onboard the Götheborg III replica in 2009:


    Models of the WASA

    The Wasa Museet in Stockholm itself has 2 splendid, giant models of the Wasa. One shows even the most recent results of the colors used on her hull. In contrary to earlier researches, the main color seems to have been red, not blue. And the figures were in bright colors, too, not golden:

    The Airfix model kit, Scale 1:144?

    The Airfix kit of the Classic Ship series, the only known plastic kit of the Wasa. It is sold mostly in Sweden of course :)

    My model is still in the making ...