With modern technology and 200 tons of steel, the hull of the regal ship Vasa is to be saved from collapse. Now the first pieces are in place.
– It’s incredibly exciting, says Jacob Jacobson, head of unit at the Vasa Museum.
Extremely carefully, the first so-called girdle is lifted and fitted into place against Vasa’s fragile hull. There will be 27 cradles like this to preserve the regal ship for future generations.
The work has been preceded by more than ten years of research and tests. A lot can go wrong, notes Håkan Thorén, specialist at the museum – but so far he feels no nervousness.
– It will probably come at cradle 27, when you have to remove the last old support. Then it feels a little critical to drop the entire stern of the ship. Wood is a living material and we don’t really know how the ship will react when we support in new places, he says.
Leaning to port
It’s still not visible to the naked eye, but Vasa is sinking – about one millimeter a year. In addition, the ship leans slightly to port – the same side that the ship capsized almost 400 years ago.
But hopefully the new support will be able to do the job that the old supports from the 60s can no longer do. The new support cradles will also include an inner steel skeleton that will relieve the hull. The supports under the keel are equipped with load cells that allow you to straighten the ship – and also weigh it for the first time.
The new construction will also be more attractive, says Monika Ask, superintendent and ship’s carpenter.
– Once it comes up, you should see that it follows the hull much better and will blend in very nicely. The old one is very angular and not uniform, she says.
“Part of the assignment”
The work is complicated and movements in the hull must be avoided at all costs.
– We also have to be very careful so that we don’t cause sparks. There have been two examples now in the last five years with Notre Dame and the stock exchange in Copenhagen. It is always during construction work that such things happen, says Håkan Thorén.
The new support should be in place in 2028 if everything goes as planned. The work is ongoing while the museum is open to the public, except during the busiest summer weeks.
– We have noticed over the years that visitors are very fascinated and curious when something happens out here. And we are a museum, and part of the mission is actually to spread knowledge and raise interest, says Jacob Jacobson.
Facts: The “Support Vasa” project
Vasa was salvaged in April 1961 after lying in the water off Beckholmen for 333 years. The Vasa Museum was inaugurated in 1990.
The project “Stötta Vasa” started in 2011 and was originally a research project to find out how strong the wood in Vasa is. Then it was discovered that the wood is greatly weakened.
The new support structure consists of around 200 tonnes of steel – considerably more robust than the existing support of 80 tonnes.
The project is estimated to cost around SEK 200 million. The museum is seeking help with the funding via a fundraiser aimed at the public, donors and sponsors.
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