The ship sank after sailing roughly 1, m 1, yd into her maiden voyage on 10 August She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century, until she was located again in the late s in a busy shipping area in Stockholm harbor. The ship was salvaged with a largely intact hull in As the most visited museum in Scandinavia, the ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 45 million visitors since The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania — She was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in — and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship.
Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull.
Despite this lack of stability, she was ordered to sea and sank only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze. The order to sail was the result of a combination of factors. At the same time the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to openly discuss the ship's problems or to have the maiden voyage postponed.
An inquiry was organized by the Swedish Privy Council to find those responsible for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished. During the recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around Vasa ' s hull by marine archaeologists.
Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship herself have provided scholars with invaluable insights into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden. Today Vasa is the world's best-preserved 17th-century ship, answering many questions about the design and operation of ships of this period.
