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The shipwreck of a seventeenth - C Swedish war vessel call in Äpplet — a sister ship of the famous Vasa , which sank only an hour into its maiden voyage in 1628 — has been discovered in the intricate waterway that conduce to Stockholm , where it was on purpose sink to protect the city from seaborne attacks in 1659 .
The crash is near the island of Vaxholm , but its exact position and depth are being maintain secret ; access to the land site is controlled by the Swedish navy because the crash is in a militarily sensible region near the Swedish upper-case letter .
A diver from Sweden’s Wreck Museum investigates the lower gun deck of Äpplet, a sister ship to the famous Vasa. Divers discovered Äpplet underwater near Stockholm.
archaeologist from Sweden’sMuseum of Wrecksand navy personnel made the first investigatory dives to the crash in December 2021 and conducted a more thoroughgoing survey in the spring of 2022 .
Jim Hansson , a nautical archeologist at the museum who take the task , say recent scientific psychoanalysis of several aspects of the shipwreck now forget no dubiety that it is Äpplet . " It was about a calendar month ago when all the piece just descend together , " he told Live Science . " We saw that this could not be any other ship — we were really thrilled . "
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Maritime archaeologists think Äpplet may be the ship on the right of this 1636 painting of Stockholm and its harbor.
The find of Äpplet ( " The Apple " ) could helparchaeologistsbetter realise what caused the sinking of the Vasa , which was salvaged in 1961 and is now one of the leading museum attracter in Scandinavia .
The Vasa was named after the Swedish majestic family and was among the most advanced combat ship of its clock time . It was 226 feet ( 69 meters ) long and armed with 64 guns on two deck of cards . Most of them were very heavy cannon that could fire a 24 - pound sterling ( 11 kilograms ) ballock .
But the ship sank on Aug. 10 , 1628 , after sailing just 4,265 feet ( 1,300 m ) from an anchorage in Stockholm Harbor , when it foundered in a gust of wind in full view of a crew of people . About 30 crewmembers die in the sinking .
Maritime archaeologists think the construction of Äpplet could cast new light on the reasons for the sinking of the Vasa on its maiden voyage in 1628.(Image credit: Jim Hansson)
Historical warships
Hansson said the keys to identifying Äpplet were the tree rings seeable in the timbers of the wreck , which showed conclusively that the ship was constructed from the same batch of wood as the Vasa , and precise measurements of the hull that show it had been build a few understructure full than the Vasa , which diachronic account attest .
Both the Vasa and Äpplet were designed by the Dutch - bear shipwright Henrik Hybertsson . But he die in 1627 , and the construction was make out by another Dutch - born ship builder , Henrik Jacobsson .
After Jacobsson completed the Vasa , he suspected it might have been made too narrow for its peak , so he increased the breadth of the hull for Äpplet , which was discharge a yr afterwards and launched in 1629 , Hansson say .
Äpplet was built a few months after the Vasa in the late 1620s, to almost the same design, in the same shipyard and from the same batch of wood.(Image credit: Jim Hansson)
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Jacobsson also built two later combat ship of almost the same design : Kronan ( " The Crown " ) and Scepter , both of which were made even across-the-board . Scepter , specially , was very stable and a " good sailor , " Hansson say . " So it take four ships to make a really good ship , " he aver .
The crucial problem with the Vasa appear to be that it was too narrow-minded for its height above the water , which allowed it to convey another pack of cards for gunslinger but also made it prone to leaning in heavy winds , he say .
Äpplet was completed a few months after the sinking of Vasa and was made slightly wider; it’s thought the narrow hull of the Vasa contributed to its instability and sinking.(Image credit: Vrak Museum of Wrecks)
" The king and the admirals wanted to have a backbreaking armament on the ship , " Hansson said . But " if they had the low gun port open , and if they had too much barretter , and if it was windy … then it would be really unstable . "
Deliberate sinking
The Äpplet wreck is of import in its own right as an other seventeenth - century warship and will throw off new light on the Vasa and the reasonableness for its sinking .
One of the most important feature of speech of the newfound shipwreck is that its hull is break in position where the Vasa ’s is not ; that difference will enable archaeologist to canvas the twist of both ships without break the legal preservation orders that circumvent the Vasa .
" It has an tremendous voltage for us , for the simple rationality that I ’m not allowed to take Vasa apart , " saidFred Hocker , music director of enquiry at theVasa Museum . " But the structure of the hull is four or five layer of timberland deep that I ca n’t see and ca n’t get to . "
The Vasa and Äpplet were among the most advanced warships of their time; each had 64 cannons on two gun decks.(Image credit: Jim Hansson)
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The wreck of the two later ships in the same serial publication , Kronan and Scepter , have not been witness yet , " but we ’re on the trail , " Hocker allege .
Like Äpplet , they were designedly sunk in the eye of the seventeenth 100 to protect against ocean advance on Stockholm by snag the hulls of foeman vessels , he say .
Hansson added that Sweden was engaged in wars with the Netherlands , Denmark and Poland during this clip , and the conclusion to deliberately sink the ships meant that they continue to have a purpose in defense .
" They got a 2d history — they defended Sweden on the sea , and then they terminate up on the seabed where they were still represent , " he said .
