The Vasa

The Vasa was built for the King of Sweden's wars in 1628, but it capsized before it ever left Stockholm harbor. Many people bore blame for the disaster, including the king, who ordered that an extra gun deck be added after the keel had been laid and the basic design set.

The cannons were salvaged in 1664, using a diving bell. But otherwise the vessel languished in the mud until 1961, when it was raised and installed in a specially built museum.

It remains an extraordinary relic of the age of sail, and of the wooden technology that was once the basis of civilization.

Because it was intended to serve as a flagship, it was lavishly decorated with wooden sculptures.

These were painted, and may have looked like this; this is the 1/10 scale model installed in the Vasa Museum.