The road more or less travelled: a Nordic journey

In this instance, a ‘sea more or less travelled’ is more accurate, as Renter Warden David Barrett embarks on a journey covering three Nordic countries – Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

The history of the Baltic Sea is dominated by a power struggle driven by the enormous trade opportunities, which was the basis of the Hanseatic League, a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in central and northern Europe.

The 12th century Hanseatic League connected ports in northern Europe

It all began in the late 12th century in a few north German towns and ultimately spread to 200 settlements across eight modern day countries. The influence of the Hansards, as they were known, included the City of London where they occupied the steel yard, on the site of Cannon Street Station.

The League’s German traders wanted to expand their commercial interests and protect its towns against robbery. Over time the League offered traders toll privileges and protection on trade routes. Economic interdependence and familial connections among merchant families led to a reduction of trade barriers, and the standardizing of trade regulations.

The Swedish capital of Stockholm is entered from the Baltic through an enormous archipelago which is 60km long and contains an unbelievable 24,000 islands. Our ship took five hours to navigate the twisting channels to reach the harbour of Stockholm. During the 17th century Sweden grew from being a poor and peripheral country to a major power in the region. She gained territory on all sides of the Baltic including Finland, Estonia and parts of Russia and north Germany. Her enemies were principally Denmark and Poland.

In a quest to acquire more territory and power the 17th century Swedish King Gustavas Adolphus ordered a massive warship to be built, called the Vasa. Taking two years to complete, she was 70m long and over 50m high, with three masts, 10 sails and bristled with 64 bronze cannons. At the time she was the most well-armed warship in the world and was richly adorned with figure carvings meant to intimidate and express power. She was known to be unstable but there was no courage to inform the King of the risks. During her maiden voyage from her Stockholm shipyard in August 1628 she managed to sail just one English mile when struck by a sideways gust between two islands, she tipped sufficient for the sea to pour in through the lower open cannon portals, and was gone in 20 minutes, sank in 32m of water where she stayed for 333 years. This was of the most unbearable embarrassment from which the King did not recover.

Fortunately the waters of the Baltic are brackish and dark in colour, conditions not favoured by the shipworm that consumes timber wrecks over time, including oak. The ship was successfully raised in 1961, and since then she has been fully restored and is 98% of the original structure. Just the sails were lost and most of the bronze cannons plundered long ago. Today it occupies an enormous purpose-built seven-story museum where the ship can be viewed at all angles.

More information can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

The museum alone is worth a visit to Stockholm although the wonderful architecture, the Royal Palace and the Old Town make this city very special.

Denmark is a relatively small country of 6m inhabitants, the capital Copenhagen is the most populous city with 1.4m and is situated on two separate islands. Nowadays Denmark is connected by road to Malmo, Sweden across the Oresund Strait. An 8km bridge carries traffic and trains from Malmo to an artificial island where the link dives underground for another 4km to Denmark. It’s the second largest bridge-link in Europe and means that you can drive or train travel from anywhere in northern Europe to Sweden and beyond. Copenhagen is a vibrant city with magnificent neo-classical architecture and many cultural attractions.

Helsinki Cathedral

Finland, once ruled over by Russia and Sweden, is now a modern and prosperous state with a fine capital city, Helsinki, with many magnificent buildings and an impressive cathedral. Its famous son Sibelius is celebrated across the city with museums, monuments, and sculptures. Finland has the air of affluence and is well worth a visit. You may not know our wonderful Comms Committee Chairman Lyn Litchfield is a Finn. I’m sure if you approach her, she can tell you much more about Finland.