The wreck of a 17th-century Swedish warship called 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 waterways that lead to Stockholm, where it was deliberately sunk to protect the city from seaborne attacks in 1659.
The wreck is near the island of Vaxholm, but its exact location and depth are being kept secret; access to the site is controlled by the Swedish navy because the wreck is in a militarily sensitive area near the Swedish capital.
Archaeologists from Sweden’s Museum of Wrecks and navy personnel made the first investigatory dives to the wreck in December 2021 and conducted a more thorough survey in the spring of 2022.
Jim Hansson, a maritime archaeologist at the museum who leads the project, said recent scientific analysis of several aspects of the wreck now leave no doubt that it is Äpplet. “It was about a month ago when all the pieces just fell together,” he told Live Science. “We saw that this could not be any other ship — we were really thrilled.”
The Vasa was named after the Swedish royal house and was among the most advanced warships of its time. It was 226 feet (69 meters) long and armed with 64 guns on two decks. Most of them were very heavy cannons that could fire a 24-pound (11 kilograms) ball.
The discovery of Äpplet (“The Apple”) could help archaeologists better understand what caused the sinking of the Vasa, which was salvaged in 1961 and is now one of the leading museum attractions in Scandinavia.
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 crowd of people. About 30 crewmembers died in the sinking.
More: Wreck of 17th-century warship discovered in Sweden | Live Science
Tom Metcalfe 