A sister ship to the iconic Swedish ship Vasa has been discovered by maritime archaeologists in Vaxholm, about 30 kilometers from Stockholm, the Vrak Wreck Museum announced on Monday. Baptized Äpplet (literally “Apple“), the ship had been built in 1629 by the same shipbuilder as the Vasa, a year after the sinking of the iconic ship on its maiden voyage.
“With Äpplet we can bring a key piece of the puzzle around the development of Swedish shipbuilding“said in a press release one of the archaeologists responsible for the excavation, Jim Hansson. “This will allow us to understand how warships have evolved, from the unstable Vasa to the giant able to sail and can control the Baltic Sea“, he specified, adding that the Swedish fleet had been a decisive factor for the kingdom to establish itself as a great power in the 17th century.
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According to the museum, the huge wreckage was first sighted in December 2021 in a strait off Vaxholm, not far from Stockholm. “The construction and the impressive dimension looked very familiar. The hope of finding one of the ships similar to the Vasa awoke in usadds Jim Hansson.
Symbol of the power of Sweden
Although parts of the ship’s sides fell off, the hull was preserved down to the lower gun deck. The elements that broke away revealed gunboats on two levels. Further study of the wreckage in the spring of 2022 revealed details of the ship only seen on the Vasa so far.
According to the Vrak Museum, technical details, dimensions and wood samples confirmed that it was “indeed Äpplet, the twin ship of the Vasa“. In 2019, Vrak announced the discovery of two other warships in the same area.
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At that time, archaeologists believed that one of the two ships discovered could be Äpplet, but further investigations had shown that these ships were actually two medium-sized warships dating from 1648, called Apollo and Maria.
Named after one of Sweden’s kings, the Vasa was originally intended to be a symbol of Swedish military power. The building, pride of a kingdom of Sweden in full swing in the 17th century, had however foundered during its maiden voyage in the waters of the Swedish capital in 1628 because of design errors which had made it unable to float. He had only traveled a kilometer. The ship was hauled out in 1961 and is now on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, one of the city’s most popular tourist spots.