Gustavus' Folly

My family members might believe this post is about the fact that Gustavous College hired President Ohle...but they would be wrong! I am actually talking about the person named Gustavous! At one point during his rein he decided he wanted to drastically improve his naval power and ordered 4 new boats to be constructed, one of which was the Vasa.

The Vasa was a giant of a ship, which two decks of canons. Normal boats only have 1, and for good reason it turns out. After the Vasa was completed it set off on its maiden voyage, which lasted for a grand total 0f 20 mins. Two strong winds came up causing the boat to list on the first occation, and then tip onto its side on the second occation allowing water to rush in through the canon holes and sinking the boat. Gustavous was obviously not happy and their was an inquiry and everything but no real reasons were discovered at the time other then general theories.

333 years after it sank it was rediscovered and after some elaborate work it was raised from the bottom in 1959, and the restoration work began. The Vasa now sits in a museum full of information about the ship and the lives of sailors from the time. The boat is really impressive and looks like it came right out of pirates of the caribean.

Turns out the boat sank because it was too top heavy and did not have enough space for a proper amount of ballest weights! Meaning it was on the one hand too small, and on the other hand too big! At anyrate the massive design was ill concieved and brought on the boats doom, thus Gustavous' Folly.

At any rate if you can not tell already, I thought this boat was really cool! I also went to a national park today full of buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries in Scandinavia ranging from Manors to farmsteads to settlements. The park also had a zoo of animals from Scandiniavia, which included Reindeer (A small girl near me asked her father how they fly!).

Tomorrow I am off to visit the Danish relatives! I hope everyone back home is doing well!