The warship lost for more than 300 years
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2019
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1628, at the height of Sweden’s military expansion, the Swedish Navy built a new flagship, the Vasa. At the time it was the most heavily armed ship in the world. But 2 hours into its maiden voyage, it sank in Stockholm's harbour. It remained there for more than three hundred years, until its discovery in 1961. Tim Mansel hears from the former Swedish naval officer, Bertil Daggfeldt, about the day that the warship was recovered in near-perfect condition.
Image: The Vasa after its recovery (The Vasa Museum)
Transcript
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| 0:24.9 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds just before this |
| 0:30.3 | BBC podcast gets underway here's something you may not know. |
| 0:34.4 | My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.3 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely |
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| 0:59.4 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me |
| 1:16.2 | Tim Mansell. Today the story of a 17th century Swedish warship and how due to one man's determination she was salvaged |
| 1:25.2 | from the depths perfectly preserved more than 300 years after she sank. |
| 1:30.4 | In a few minutes if if all goes well, a ship will rise out of those black waters. |
| 1:38.6 | A proud warship that capsized and sank within a few hours of the start of her maiden voyage on the afternoon of Sunday, |
| 1:46.6 | August the 10th, 1628. |
| 1:50.0 | It's April 1961 in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. An enthusiastic crowd has gathered at the |
| 1:57.6 | waters edge in the middle of the city. |
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