Another Vasa

There have been at least five ships named Vasa/Wasa/Wassan in the Swedish navy, plus a couple of armed transports. "Our" Vasa is nr. 3. There was a ship in the 1570s called "Gyllene Wasa" (Golden Vasa) about which I do not know very much, it is only mentioned a few times. A ship named Wasa was built in 1599 and was in service until it burned and sank in 1623. This is sometimes called Rikswasa (Royal Vasa), and the wreck was heavily salvaged in 1963 (one can still buy pieces of it on the Swedish equivalent of Ebay), leading to the legislation of 1967 which protects historic wrecks in Sweden. After our Vasa sank in 1628, it is hardly surprising that the navy did not use this name again for 150 years. Fredrik Henrik af Chapman's 60-gun ship in the post card above was named thanks to revived interest in the Vasa dynasty under Gustav III. It served a long career, and was converted to an East Indiaman in the 19th century before being bought back by the navy; it was sunk as a breakwater after 1819. Finally, an armoured cruiser of the Äran class was named Vasa in 1902, serving until it was scrapped at the beginning of WWII.

The model in the postcard is one of several models of Chapman's Wasa in our collections.

Fred