Permanent event at The Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden
Life on board. Courtesy of The Vasa Museum
In Life on board retrieved objects from the Vasa are exhibited, and we can form a picture of everyday life on a warship including clothes, food and illness.
The commanders' utensils and containers were made of pewter, glass and imported pottery. This contrasted sharply with the crew's simple wooden objects. One of the sailor's chests found during the excavation has been given its own display case. When the lid was lifted, everything lay there exactly as it had been packed by some sailor 333 years previously.
The Vasa would have had a crew of 145 sailors and 300 soldiers. The large crew was needed to handle the rig and cannon efficiently in a naval battle. In all other situations the crew was too large. If the ship had been used as was customary to transport troops it would have been very cramped onboard.
The exhibition includes a full-scale model of a part of the upper gun deck which visitors may enter, and a section model of the Vasa's interior showing men.
The Vasa Museum
Around 1.5 million visitors every year enjoy the exhibitions in the museum, which describe the people on board and life at the time; how, after 333 years at the bottom of Stockholm bay, the ship was rediscovered and salvaged; and the research which is now underway to preserve Vasa.
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