aye matey! shipwrecks and survivals of 17th and 18th centuries

shipwrecks - survivals

the sunken ships and lost souls of the 17th and 18th centuries



there are so many ships that could be described and explored but i found two that were truly fascinating to me. they are:

the vasa
whydah

the royal ship: the vasa

in the 1620's -- Sweden's naval forces were in the process of modernization. by building a greater number of heavily armed warships, sweden become more efficient and slightly more aggressive. their warships, were used for troop transportation, blockage operations as well as to win and protect baltic ports.

the vasa, much like her sister-ships, was heavily armed and was able to destroy enemy ships with ease. in 1625 - the crown signed a contract to build four warships -- two larger and two smaller. the vasa, who was one of the larger ships, was produced alongside the Tre Kronor (Three Crowns). The Vasa was named after the ruling Vasa dynasty. actually, she was named after the heraldic emblem of the Vasa dynasty. the emblem was of a sheath of corn.


along with her sister ship, she belonged to a category called Royal Ship (in swedish: Regalskepp). She was one of the largest ships in the navy. the vasa was built from oka and approximately 1,000 okas were used to build the ship. she was actually launched the minute she could float -- without having been completely finished. although amusing, it made sense as she would have been very difficult to launch as such a large boat later on.



the captain of the vasa was Söfring Hansson and he was accompanied by two sub-lieutenants. there were a large number of lesser officers, two mates and two bombardier as well as two skippers. there were about 90 sailors and 20 special officers as well as one cook.

the capsizing of the vasa:

in august 1628 - the vasa went to take her maiden voyage. she set sail from the royal castle around 3 pm heading eastward toward the archipelago of stochholm. she fired a "swedish charge", which is a two-gun salute as they lost sight of the docking area. but then a gust of wind from the south caused her to heel and the wind began to increase as they sailed along. all of a sudden, large gusts of wind supposedly made her heel alarmingly to port and water began to pour through the lower gunports. despite the efforts of the crew to save her, the vasa sank in desperation to a depth of 30 meters.

the was clear back then and, if someone sailed by, you could actually catch a glimpse of the vasa as the lay on the seabed. she sank just off the island of becholmen. fortunately, the vasa carried a crew of 200 and only 50 of them drowned. but, because of the disaster, everyone considered it a bad omen for their nation.

it was not until 1961 that the vasa was drawn up from her watery grave. thousands of interesting tid bits were found inside and around the magnificent ship. in 1990, the reconstruction and preservation work were completed and the vasa was given a home the vasa museum on the island of Djurgården. today, the vasa is the most well-preserved 17th century ship in the world.

a complete story of The Vasa can be found here:

http://hem.bredband.net/johava/WASA2e.htm#flottan

the whydah

alright...this one was probably my favorite! i just thought it was such an interesting story and...well...i love pirates ;)

argh matey! the whydah was the flagship of the pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy. the ship sailed for only a year as a pirate ship until a horrific storm off the coast of Massachusetts sank the vessel. yet, before being transformed in to a glorious pirate ship, it had sailed two voyages as a merchant galley through the rouse of the triangular trade. its past was in transporting english goods to africa, slaves from africa to the new world and then back to england.

she was america's only known pirate ship and, in april 1717, her captain and 143 others died with her. truly, the whydah is more than just a shipwrecked tragedy - it is a love story with a rag-to-riches twist that turned horribly wrong.

the captain - sam bellamy was in love with a maria hallet of eastham, massachusetts. her parents, who did approve and like sam, were nervous of his income and felt that a poor sailor could not provide for their daughter. in response to this, bellamy and several friends took off looking for fortune and a future.

along with his friend palgrave williams, bellamy started out as a ordinary treasure hunter -- looking for shipwreckes. unfortunately, there was no luck in that business. but, instead of returning home with nothing, the determined lover became a pirate. in just a year of raiding, bellamy and his crew plundered more than 50 ships on the caribbean and atlantic. they were considered 'robin hood's men' and were remarkably democratic aboard the ship.

then came the whydah. in feb. of 1717, bellamy captured the beautiful three-masted english slave ship. with her came gold and silver worth more than 20,000 pounds sterling. for these men, who might have earned two pounds a month, this was the jackpot.

bellamy, being modest, decided that this was enough and turned the ship around. yet, as they turned for home (and maria) - tragedy struck on april 26, 1717. a fierce storm sank the ship, the captain and all but 2 of the 145 crew.

the story of the whydah:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorer/whydah/more.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/whydah/main.html