Mr Monkey scampered along the side of the Vasa, gazing at its double row of cannon ports. Having two gun decks filled with heavy 24 pounders was a bit of an experiment for a 17th century warship; generally ships had only one gun deck, and mounted lighter cannon on the top decks. Mr Monkey suspected that the way the Vasa keeled over and sank on her maiden voyage after sailing no more than one nautical mile may have indicated that the experiment wasn't totally successful.
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 21 January 2006