"On Aug. 10, 1628, the Swedish 64 gun warship Vasa capsized and sank on her maiden voyage, still within the harbour of Stockholm; 333 years later, in 1961, she was raised and the first Vasa Museum was built"--Page 4 of cover.

The story of Vasa began almost four hundred years ago. On 10 August 1628, the Vasa, newly-built flagship of the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf, set sail in Stockholm harbor. Less than an hour later, Sweden's great warship sank to the bottom of Stockholm harbor. Various attempts were made to raise the ship. In the 1660s attention turned to salvaging the ship's consignment of bronze cannon, while the hull itself remained relatively undisturbed at the bottom of the sea until April 1961 when the great ship was raised from the waters of Stockholm harbor. Conservation and reconstruction was to prove a far cry from plain sailing... taking almost 30 years before the ship was placed on permanent display in the purpose-built Vasa Museum in central Stockholm. This book, published in association with The Vasa Museum, documents how this huge ship survived the forces of decay; how the conservators of the 1960s approached the task of preserving such an enormous volume of waterlogged wood; what needs to be done to preserve the ship for future generations and how the ship is looked after on a daily basis. Contents: Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; Chapters: 1. Introduction; 2. On the Harbour Bottom; 3. Salvage and Excavation; 4. Conserving Vasa; 5. Reconstructing Vasa; 6. Conservation of Objects; 7. Life in the New Museum; 8. The Unexpected; 9. Stabilising the Climate; 10. Monitoring and Stabilising Vasa; 11. A New Support System; 12. Vasa s Legacy; Bibliography; Index.

For armchair admirals, history buffs, and naval enthusiasts everywhere, A Naval Miscellany is an indispensible and entertaining collection of fascinating and little-known facts, anecdotes, lists, curiosities and stories from our naval past. Forgotten heroes, amazing blunders, surprising trivia, and strange-but-true stories are all included. Who were the naval heroes of the ancient world, and the world's worst admirals? How much did a midshipman get paid in the eighteenth century? What are the origins of sea shanties? Where are the biggest naval bases in the world today? And how does a ship float? It's all here in this little book that will amaze and enlighten even the most avid student of naval history!

This book is the first in a new series of monographs to be published on Sweden's royal ship, Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage on August 10th 1628. Volume I will put the series in context, presenting the background to the ship's story, its excavation and salvage, as well as an overview of the the finds and their context. Future volumes will examine the armaments, the engineering and the on-board community of the ship, as well as its place in society.