Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie listener discretion advised. Crowds of nobles, workers,
Speaker 1: families all poured in from the royal Palace and the
Speaker 1: streets of Stockholm, eager to finally see their King's pride
Speaker 1: and joy in all her splendor. She was supposed to
Speaker 1: be beautiful. King Gustavus Adolphus himself was off fighting in Poland,
Speaker 1: but his presence was readily felt in that day's festivities, speeches,
Speaker 1: and down at the waterfront, in the beautiful visage of
Speaker 1: his beloved Vasa. August tenth, sixteen twenty eight was a
Speaker 1: bright day, and the sun's rays illuminated her every feature,
Speaker 1: from her meticulously carved beakhead to her gaudily painted stern castle. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Vasa was in fact a ship, but not just
Speaker 1: any ship. The Vasa was a hulking worship, the pinnacle
Speaker 1: of Swedish naval ambitions, a floating tribute to the country's
Speaker 1: bold ruler. This was the vessel that would make the
Speaker 1: Swedish Empire the masters of the Baltic Sea. But the
Speaker 1: Vasa's departure from harbor was far from majestic. With little
Speaker 1: wind to help the ship move through Stockholm Harbor, Captain
Speaker 1: Sofring Hanson ordered his crew to use ropes posts along
Speaker 1: the shore and their vertical man powered winch known as
Speaker 1: a capstan, to pull themselves along at a sea snail's pace. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: the crowd cheered on the Vasa. After all, the warship
Speaker 1: was still a grand site with its double decks of
Speaker 1: bronze cannons and all of its carved sculptures and gilded adornments.
Speaker 1: The slow progression through the harbor actually allowed many onlookers
Speaker 1: to keep pace along the key while calling out to
Speaker 1: their friends and relatives on board. At long last, the
Speaker 1: Vasa glided out away from shore. It fired a salute
Speaker 1: and the crew set four of its ten available sails.
Speaker 1: A gust of wind blew, and immediately the ship began
Speaker 1: healing over to its port side. Screams came from the
Speaker 1: watching crowd, as well as from some on board, especially
Speaker 1: the more inexperienced crew members and honorary guests. Captain Hansen
Speaker 1: was worried too, knowing how bad this maiden voyage was
Speaker 1: going and how much worse it could get if his
Speaker 1: nagging fears about the ship's seaworthiness were true, but he
Speaker 1: barked orders and managed to even the Vasa's key. If
Speaker 1: they could just complete their first leg to the alvs
Speaker 1: Nebsen naval base further south in the Swedish Archipelago, and
Speaker 1: thereby appease the impatient orders of the King, they could
Speaker 1: hopefully make further adjustments to the ship. Then came the
Speaker 1: second gust of wind. Spoiler alert. The ship sank on
Speaker 1: its maiden voyage. We wouldn't be talking about it now
Speaker 1: if it hadn't. However, the Vasa story did not end
Speaker 1: with its dramatic and deadly foundering. Far from it. The
Speaker 1: ship may have only sailed about thirteen hundred meters in total,
Speaker 1: but its overarching journey from its rushed construction to its
Speaker 1: epic failure to its unprecedented and incredible resurrection would effectively
Speaker 1: canonize it as one of the most legendary ships to
Speaker 1: even if so very briefly set sail. I'm Danish Schwartz
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. For nearly four hundred years now,
Speaker 1: the most common question asked about the Vasa by everyone
Speaker 1: from historians to marine archaeologists to casual observers has been
Speaker 1: why did it sick? The answer is complicated since it
Speaker 1: involves physical issues such as buoyancy, building materials, and weight distribution,
Speaker 1: as well as classic human flaws like hubris, fear, and miscommunication.
Speaker 1: Since the human side gives us the more psychologically compelling
Speaker 1: entry point, let's start there with the Vasa's creation. There
Speaker 1: were many fathers and several mothers, but no one figures
Speaker 1: as prominently as King Gustavus Adolphus. The ship was his
Speaker 1: true brainchild. Gustavus became king of Sweden in sixteen eleven
Speaker 1: at age sixteen, and had limited margin for error since
Speaker 1: his country was so frequently at war with three of
Speaker 1: its neighbors, Denmark, Russia, and Poland. Despite some early losses,
Speaker 1: Gustavus gained a reputation as a bold warrior and commander
Speaker 1: who helped usher in an era that Swedish historians would
Speaker 1: later call the Age of Greatness or quote great Power period.
Speaker 1: Beyond out muscling his close rivals, Gustavus strove to push
Speaker 1: Sweden into the top tier of European powerhouses. As a
Speaker 1: devout Lutheran, he even hoped to staunch the influence of
Speaker 1: the robust Catholic empires to the south. Such lofty ambitions
Speaker 1: required enhanced military might. So, eager to boost his name
Speaker 1: these firepower and to assert his control over profitable Baltic
Speaker 1: trade routes, Gustavus sent an order to his Stockholm navy
Speaker 1: yard in sixteen twenty five to build him four new warships.
Speaker 1: Of these, the flagship was slated to be the most
Speaker 1: powerful the world has ever seen. When finished, it would
Speaker 1: have a stunning capacity or seventy two bronze twenty four
Speaker 1: pounders aka cannons that shot twenty four pound balls. But
Speaker 1: what to call this awe inspiring vessel? What name would
Speaker 1: elicit pride from its patriots and strike fear into its foes?
Speaker 1: How about bundle of sticks? That is essentially what Vasa
Speaker 1: originally meant to be. More exact, the name comes from
Speaker 1: the word vase, which was the heraldic symbol embraced by
Speaker 1: the Swedish royal family heading into the seventeenth Sei entry.
Speaker 1: It was increasingly depicted as a sheath of wheat in
Speaker 1: their coat of arms, and the dynasty itself became known
Speaker 1: as the House of Vasa. Starting with Gustavus's grandfather, Gustav
Speaker 1: Eriksson Vasa. Thus, by dubbing his ship Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus
Speaker 1: was in a sense both honoring his family and putting
Speaker 1: their reputation on the line. This looming pressure only increased
Speaker 1: during the Vasa's choppy formative years. Due to the time
Speaker 1: it took for the shipyard to communicate with the king,
Speaker 1: who was frequently off leading his army, multiple versions of
Speaker 1: the contract were circulated. This made mastershipbuilder Henrik Hibertson's job hard.
Speaker 1: To put it mildly, Quickly sourcing enough properly cut oak
Speaker 1: beams would be tricky under normal circumstances, let alone when
Speaker 1: stuck in a contract dispute with a temperamental monarch over
Speaker 1: basic ship dimensions and costs. It's worth noting that although
Speaker 1: a myth lingered for years that Gustavus's continued meddling was
Speaker 1: a crucial factor in Vasa's ultimate failure, documents show that
Speaker 1: that wasn't actually the case, at least not with the
Speaker 1: main design. Once construction began, Gustavus did not keep trying
Speaker 1: to change the specifications of the ship. His impatience simply
Speaker 1: affected the build in other ways. One crucial issue was
Speaker 1: the dissimilarities between the main shipbuilding techniques used throughout Europe
Speaker 1: during this era. Shipbuilder Henrik was trained in the Dutch style,
Speaker 1: in which workers did not rely on detailed designs or
Speaker 1: models like they did in the English style. Instead, they
Speaker 1: derived proportional measurements from basic parts of the ship, like
Speaker 1: the kiel. The Dutch way saved money and time, but
Speaker 1: turned out to be far riskier when utilized in Stockholm.
Speaker 1: Under the King's urgent schedule. For example, carpenters were recruited
Speaker 1: at home and abroad and brought differently sized tools with them.
Speaker 1: Six wood rulers, all supposedly a foot long, were later located,
Speaker 1: and none of them were the same length. The Swedish
Speaker 1: ones were closer to a modern twelve inches, whereas the
Speaker 1: Dutch ones were closer to eleven not exactly a recipe
Speaker 1: for precision. Additionally, separate construction groups worked on the port
Speaker 1: and starboard sides, which may have given the Vasa a
Speaker 1: slightly asymmetric structure. As if all that were not enough,
Speaker 1: it was tricky to judge how the immense weight of
Speaker 1: seventy two cannons would affect the ship, because seventy two
Speaker 1: cannons were not readily available, particularly not in the size
Speaker 1: that King Gustavus wanted. These guns had to be cast
Speaker 1: in bronze at a separate foundry in Stockholm, a task
Speaker 1: so herculean that it was not completed. According to researchers,
Speaker 1: only sixty four cannons ever actually made it onto the Vasa. Then,
Speaker 1: in sixteen twenty seven, Henrik fell ill And died, his wife, Margareta,
Speaker 1: Nil's daughter, took over the stressful job of running the shipyard.
Speaker 1: With departments going far over budget and a king demanding
Speaker 1: to see progress, other shipbuilders stepped in to help oversee things,
Speaker 1: along with the Vasa's future captain, so Friing Hansen. In
Speaker 1: sixteen twenty seven, they launched the Vasa a process where
Speaker 1: they moved the incomplete vessel to the water to finish
Speaker 1: its upper decks, rigging, and other features. During this phase,
Speaker 1: workers noticed the ship's tendency to roll over, but hopefully
Speaker 1: a seasoned captain like Hanson could manage that while sailing.
Speaker 1: As we now know, Hanson could not, and on that
Speaker 1: lightly breezy summer day in sixteen twenty eight, the Vasa
Speaker 1: healed too far to port water rushed in and the
Speaker 1: Vasa sank frighteningly quickly. Most crew members and passengers managed
Speaker 1: to escape, but at least fifteen were trapped and drowned.
Speaker 1: The ship may not have taken on water so quickly
Speaker 1: if the gun ports, especially those on the lower deck,
Speaker 1: had been closed, but they were open because a the
Speaker 1: King wanted the might of his new warship to be
Speaker 1: on full display, and B most of the cannons that
Speaker 1: were ready in time were placed on the lower gun
Speaker 1: deck or stabilities, and they would be difficult to reposition
Speaker 1: on short notice. Gustavus Adolphus, furious upon hearing of the
Speaker 1: Vasa's demise, called for an inquest. Captain Hunson and other
Speaker 1: key figures were interrogated at the palace on September fifth,
Speaker 1: sixteen twenty eight. Almost a month's worth of lead time
Speaker 1: allowed these officers to carefully craft their defenses. According to
Speaker 1: documents from the hearings, the defendants largely scapegoaded the dead
Speaker 1: shipwright Henrik Heibertsen and or implied that they were simply
Speaker 1: following the King's orders, so to punish them would be
Speaker 1: to question the wisdom of fearsome King. Gustavus Adolphus Still,
Speaker 1: it came out that Captain Hanson had been aware of
Speaker 1: the Vasa's flaws to the point that he had had
Speaker 1: his crew do a demonstration for one of the crown's
Speaker 1: vice admirals. But clearly everyone was so fearful of delivering
Speaker 1: bad news to the king that the maiden voyage went
Speaker 1: forward anyway. Ultimately, no one was found guilty of negligence,
Speaker 1: and the involved officers, nobles and craftspeople all tried to
Speaker 1: move on with their careers and lives. King Gustavus Adolphus
Speaker 1: got involved in the Bloody Thirty Years' War and died
Speaker 1: at the Battle of Lutzen in sixteen thirty two. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the Vasa rested at the bottom of Stockholm Harbor, seemingly
Speaker 1: doomed to a disastrous legacy and a turbid decomposition. That
Speaker 1: is until the steady evolution of nautical technology and some
Speaker 1: long awaited luck gave the ship a chance to rise again.
Speaker 1: Only three days after the Vasa sank, Sweden's Council of
Speaker 1: the Realm granted an Englishman permission to try to salvage it.
Speaker 1: His method involved using two floating ships as pontoons and
Speaker 1: gradually tightening ropes attached to the wreck to pull it
Speaker 1: up a little, drag it to shallow waters, and then repeat.
Speaker 1: His plan was sound, but unfortunately he lacked enough mechanical force.
Speaker 1: A Dutch expert tried next, as did others. At one point,
Speaker 1: Captain Hansen was even tapped to lead a recovery effort,
Speaker 1: but like his stewardship of the Vasa's first voyage, his
Speaker 1: second go with the ship in its much sagier state,
Speaker 1: also failed. Then, in sixteen sixty three, a diver named
Speaker 1: Albert von Trelbin pitched an exciting new approach. Fortunately, the
Speaker 1: king at this time, Carl the tenth Gustave, was very
Speaker 1: interested in ships, just as Gustavus had been, so he
Speaker 1: recognized the potential when Trailbin showed him an invention called
Speaker 1: the diving bell. It could not enable the lifting of
Speaker 1: the ship, but by trapping air underwater, the metallic chamber
Speaker 1: allowed Trailbin's divers to recover valuable items, Namely thanks to
Speaker 1: Trailbin's German partner's technique of using giant tongs to remove
Speaker 1: large pieces from the gunports, the team was reportedly able
Speaker 1: to recover most of the Vasa's prized bronze cannons. After that,
Speaker 1: the vasa was mostly ignored for centuries, with the general
Speaker 1: consensus being that the ship's materials were likely deteriorating beyond
Speaker 1: sufficient value or usefulness. Fascinatingly, though, that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1: As it turns out, in many ways, the conditions in
Speaker 1: Stockholm Harbor were ideal for preserving a sunken ship. According
Speaker 1: to scientists, the cold, brickish, low oxygen waters of the
Speaker 1: Baltic kept certain organisms that wreak havoc on wood, like
Speaker 1: the mollusk referred to as quote the shipworm, from destroying
Speaker 1: the vasa more off puddingly, we also have the poor
Speaker 1: waste removal practices of the seventeenth century to thank for
Speaker 1: protecting the ship. Raw sewage jumped directly into the harbor
Speaker 1: from the city's privies may have grievously poisoned the marine environment,
Speaker 1: but in doing so it evidently also stymied wood loving bacteria. Additionally,
Speaker 1: the ample sediment and clay of the harbor's seafloor encased
Speaker 1: many structures and portions of the hull. This shielded the
Speaker 1: vasa from erosion, but also made it extremely difficult to lift.
Speaker 1: Because these ships settling into the muddy cushion created massive
Speaker 1: amounts of suction. Fast forward to the nineteen fifties, yes,
Speaker 1: over three hundred years after the sinking of the Vasa,
Speaker 1: and a Swedish man named Anders Franzen becomes fascinated by
Speaker 1: the ship. He had served during World War II studying
Speaker 1: shipwrecks in his spare time, and got the Bronstrom's Shipping
Speaker 1: Company and the Swedish Navy to back a new salvage
Speaker 1: endeavor by winning over King Gustave the sixth Adolf. As
Speaker 1: you may have already guessed, Sweden's recently crowned monarch, was
Speaker 1: a fan of ships. If anything, we're making a strong
Speaker 1: case here that within the last four centuries you couldn't
Speaker 1: descend the Swedish throne and not like ships. Plus this
Speaker 1: Gustave was exceptionally passionate about archaeology in general. For his
Speaker 1: recovery plan, Anders Franz and his team opted to combine
Speaker 1: new and old methods. They first used modern technology to
Speaker 1: shoot jets of pressurized water below the Vasa. This created
Speaker 1: tunnels through which they then threaded cables to make a
Speaker 1: sturdy cradle for the ship. This was dangerous work for
Speaker 1: divers who had to work in claustrophobic conditions, fearing that
Speaker 1: the tunnels beneath the ship might collapse on them. Eventually, though,
Speaker 1: they succeeded, and the recovery team then used an incremental
Speaker 1: system of lifting the ship with pontoons and cable adjustments
Speaker 1: that was remarkably similar to the strategy attempted in the
Speaker 1: sixteen hundreds. The vasa was gradually pulled and towed into
Speaker 1: shallower water until finally, on April twenty fourth, nineteen sixty one,
Speaker 1: it emerged. Raising the vasa on to a special pontoon
Speaker 1: platform was only part of the challenge. However, for those
Speaker 1: first couple decades, a tricky balance had to be reached
Speaker 1: between preservation and in depth study. Initially, workers had to
Speaker 1: keep spraying the ship with water to prevent drying that
Speaker 1: might lead to warping and cracking. A Swedish duo er
Speaker 1: Till Centerval and Rolfe Moren, then devised a clever way
Speaker 1: to preserve the structure, using a substance called polyethylene glycol
Speaker 1: or PEG. When injected, this polymer replaced water while strengthening
Speaker 1: wood fibers. Fun fact, this treatment was so effective that
Speaker 1: It became standard practice with water logged wooden structures, including
Speaker 1: the famous English warship Mary Rose that was later salvaged.
Speaker 1: Preservation with PEG was effective, but also time consuming. Detached
Speaker 1: pieces that could be submerged in this chemical mix, the
Speaker 1: process often took from a year to eighteen months. The
Speaker 1: main body of the vasa took way longer. The whole
Speaker 1: thing couldn't be dunked, so conservators had to sprinkle and
Speaker 1: inject PEG continually. This took from nineteen sixty one to
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine. Finally, once the ship had been fortified,
Speaker 1: eager marine archaeologists and historians were able to start fully
Speaker 1: reconstructing and analyzing the ship. The vasa proved to be
Speaker 1: an incredible time capsule of seventeenth century Swedish life at sea.
Speaker 1: At least twenty five thousand objects were reportedly found. Clothing, shoes, games, glassware,
Speaker 1: and coins all provided glimpses at what life was like.
Speaker 1: The ship decorations also tell quite a story. An astonishing
Speaker 1: number of intricate carvings survived, some with traces of their
Speaker 1: original bright paint jobs. These showcased an amalgamation of artistic styles,
Speaker 1: classic mythology, old testament iconography odes to King Gustavus Adolphus,
Speaker 1: and plenty of mir people and mythical creatures. There were
Speaker 1: even carvings that poked fun at rival Polish nobles by
Speaker 1: showing them in compromising positions. Two of these were purportedly placed,
Speaker 1: so they were only clearly visible to a crewman who
Speaker 1: sat on one of the ship's main to toilets. By
Speaker 1: modern standards, the intended living and working conditions on the
Speaker 1: Vasa seemed pretty awful. The officers had larger cabins, but
Speaker 1: most of the crew had the ship, in theory, continued
Speaker 1: its mission, would have slept in dark, cramped conditions between cannons.
Speaker 1: The only daylight that those on the lower decks would
Speaker 1: have regularly seen would have filtered through cracks in the
Speaker 1: beams above. The Vasa was supposed to carry a staggering
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty people, although it wasn't full when
Speaker 1: it sank because the soldier regiments had not yet boarded,
Speaker 1: so in one way, the fact that the ship failed
Speaker 1: so immediately actually prevented even more people from suffering and dying.
Speaker 1: Even so, as we mentioned, there were individuals who never
Speaker 1: made it off the ship. Fifteen skeletons were recovered from
Speaker 1: the Vasa wreck, it was hard to identify them since
Speaker 1: no exact official crewe lists survived. The remains still offered
Speaker 1: scientists a wealth of information. Though the group included sailors
Speaker 1: likely conscripted from coastal towns or brought on from defecting
Speaker 1: Danish and Norwegian crews. Since the first voyage of the
Speaker 1: Vasa was a festive occasion, a few women and children
Speaker 1: were also reportedly aboard. This was reflected in the skeletons.
Speaker 1: Two of the fifteen were female. Analysis of the bones
Speaker 1: also gave insight into height, age, matrilineal details, and nutrition.
Speaker 1: Somewhat surprisingly, although those who had died had plenty of
Speaker 1: other apparent injuries, none seemed to have been afflicted by scurvy.
Speaker 1: The remains were actually in such good condition that detailed
Speaker 1: facial reconstructions could be done, and eventually one skeleton could
Speaker 1: be identified based on its age and clothing remnants. It
Speaker 1: was Hans Jansen. Jansen was an experienced captain slated to
Speaker 1: lead the Vasa, who was then replaced by Sofring Hudson.
Speaker 1: Johnson still joined the maiden voyage, though, as corroborated by
Speaker 1: officers at the inquest. The fact that even an expert
Speaker 1: captain went down with the ship shows just how terrifyingly
Speaker 1: fast it all happened. Further examination also shed more light
Speaker 1: on why the Vasa sank. A critical problem was that
Speaker 1: there were too many heavy beams, too high up the hull,
Speaker 1: and too much space between decks. This, combined with apparent
Speaker 1: asymmetries and the fact that the ship was actually too
Speaker 1: small to effectively carry so much cargo, made it a
Speaker 1: top heavy catastrophe waiting to happen, a catastrophe that, while
Speaker 1: highly tragic at the time, eventually also led to a
Speaker 1: stunning archaeological find that is inspired millions. The Vasa sinking
Speaker 1: was a costly and embarrassing disaster, but it did not
Speaker 1: seemingly dampen King Gustavus Adolphus's nautical ambitions in his remaining years.
Speaker 1: Since the ship was such a failure, it became a
Speaker 1: cautionary tail and brought sweeping changes. The Swedish Navy improved
Speaker 1: their production process, utilizing more thorough oversight and opting to
Speaker 1: work from detailed designs and models on future builds. Larger,
Speaker 1: sturdier worships eventually made it out of the harbor to
Speaker 1: see action in the long run, though no ship from
Speaker 1: this period would see more action than the Vasa, which
Speaker 1: to this day has not left Stockholm Harbor. While conservators
Speaker 1: were working to preserve the Vasa on its pontoon platform,
Speaker 1: a museum was built around the ship still rests there
Speaker 1: on an island in Stockholm in a temperature and humidity
Speaker 1: controlled environment, one that I actually was lucky enough to visit,
Speaker 1: although every single photo I have is incredibly dark and blurry.
Speaker 1: The Vasa may have struggled at sea, but since its
Speaker 1: recovery and career pivot, it has been a smashing success
Speaker 1: that continues to repay Sweden's investment, at least in terms
Speaker 1: of tourism. The current King of Sweden, Karl the sixteenth Gustav,
Speaker 1: who get this, has demonstrated he's both a fan of
Speaker 1: historical ships and of promoting maritime safety, inaugurated the Vasa
Speaker 1: Museum on June fifteenth, nineteen ninety. According to some sources,
Speaker 1: it is the most visited museum in Scandinavia, attracting a
Speaker 1: reported one point five million visitors a year, books, documentaries,
Speaker 1: countless types of merchandise, and even a video game. Have
Speaker 1: focused on the Vasa's unique history. In addition, the Vasa
Speaker 1: has had a significant effect on popular culture in Sweden,
Speaker 1: according to some archaeologists and historians. Despite the ship's infamous sinking,
Speaker 1: fascination with it in recent decades has helped foster a
Speaker 1: nationalistic view of the age of warrior kings and quests
Speaker 1: for nautical glory that is similar to the sense of
Speaker 1: modern pride at least shared cultural identity regarding the Viking Age.
Speaker 1: In some business and technology circles, the Vasa has also
Speaker 1: become a vivid symbol of project mismanagement. Several authors and
Speaker 1: experts have used the term Vasa syndrome when discussing failed
Speaker 1: ventures that were drastically afif affected by modern organizations, shortened timelines,
Speaker 1: poor communication, and lack of corrective action. Such examples include
Speaker 1: Greyhound trying to shift to a computerized bus reservation system
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three and NASA's reportedly flawed process leading
Speaker 1: up to the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Ultimately, it's difficult
Speaker 1: to envision there ever being another ship like the Vasa,
Speaker 1: thanks to its bridging of eras, linking of kings, and
Speaker 1: legacy of mind bettening dichotomies. By sinking, it rose to
Speaker 1: fame by barely traveling. It lured countless travelers. Perhaps most inspiringly,
Speaker 1: after drowning under the weight of discord and royal expectations,
Speaker 1: the Vasa lived on by booying cooperation and scientific innovation.
Speaker 1: Not bad for bundle of sticks. That's the unsinkable history
Speaker 1: of the Vasa. But stick around after a brief sponsor
Speaker 1: break to get one last blast of irony from those
Speaker 1: sought after bronze cannons. Other than firing one ammunition free salute,
Speaker 1: the Vasa's bronze twenty four pounders were never actually put
Speaker 1: to use on the Swedish flagship. In a fateful twist, however,
Speaker 1: the cannons may have seen action decades later. Albert von Trelburn,
Speaker 1: the Swede who if you'll remember, effectively utilized the diving bell,
Speaker 1: salvaged most of the guns and passed them onto his
Speaker 1: business partners. We know this because surviving customs records from
Speaker 1: sixteen sixty five reveal that those men exported fifty three
Speaker 1: of the cannons to Lubec, Germany, where there was quite
Speaker 1: a market for secondhand weapons. Fred Hawker, the head of
Speaker 1: research at the Vasa Museum makes a compelling case in
Speaker 1: his book Vasa that some of those cannons found their
Speaker 1: way to Denmark, since the Danish king at the time,
Speaker 1: Frederick the Third, had sent representatives to Lubek to purchase
Speaker 1: cannons for his own navy. Given that Denmark later battled
Speaker 1: Sweden in the Scanyon War in sixteen seventy, it's therefore
Speaker 1: possible that those same cannons were, as Hawker put it quote,
Speaker 1: eventually fired in anger at the Swedish fleet. In other words,
Speaker 1: after causing no end of trouble for foundry workers, shipbuilders,
Speaker 1: and the Vasa crew, King Gustavus Adolphus's ubristic order of
Speaker 1: cannons could hardly have backfired anymore on their home country's
Speaker 1: hopes for Scandinavian supremacy at sea. Noble Blood is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional
Speaker 1: writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy
Speaker 1: Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced
Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and
Speaker 1: executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.