Before the Swedish warship Mars exploded and sank in action against a combined Danish and Lübeckian fleet in 1564, it was one of the largest ships in the world. In 2011 the wreck was relocated off the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea. Thanks to the favourable conditions in the brackish water, about two thirds of the hull is preserved on the sea bottom, including the stern with the large sterncastle. The aim of this article is to present initial archaeological observations and results of work since 2011. We briefly describe the historical context and research perspectives regarding this wreck.

Riksäpplet deals with a shipwreck that has a neglected position in the grand narrative of the history of the Swedish navy. The story of its destiny and the missing accounts in scholarly and popular works in history says something about heritage processes within Swedish maritime archaeology.

On 5 June 1676 Riksäpplet came loose and adrift from its moorings outside Dalarö Sea fortress. The hull struck a rock and sank. The loss was considered both ignominious and embarrassing and the ship’s fate has been overlooked in all major history books. The rock onto which Riksäpplet sank was named ‘Äpplet’ after the incident, and the wreck itself has become an integrated component of the underwater seascape. As a consequence the wreckage has never enjoyed a proper ‘discovery’ or undergone documentation under the sensational forms that many other famous shipwrecks have, even though they have sunk in more inconvenient places.

In Eriksson’s study the official handling of Riksäpplet’s wrecked body is compared to the more wellknown ships Kronan and Svärdet, which both sank during battle only days before. Eriksson draws on different motifs and driving forces behind the study of naval wrecks from the period from his comparison, and the differences are discussed. Riksäpplet has never achieved a prominent position with the romanticising works of history that honour the national heroes and their deeds which are associated with this era of the Swedish Empire. The first half of the book thus sets out to unpack the ideas that have led to the relative disinterest in Riksäpplet in comparison to other shipwrecks.

The second half of the book sets out to analyse Riksäpplet from a specific archaeological perspective, with focus on the ship as material culture. Eriksson’s departure is to explore the relatively low budget fieldwork that has been done at the wreck site. He the combines those facts with a survey of the artefacts recovered from the wreck, of which all are kept in museum archives and private collections. This, in addition to his studies of preserved written correspondence concerning the construction of the ship, has brought new insights into seventeenth-century shipbuilding and how the balance between the global political superpowers affected this trade. In this context Riksäpplet has great potential to show how military alliances are materialized through ships’ architecture.

Riksäpplet: Arkeologiska perspektiv på ett bortglömt regalskepp handlar om kulturarvsprocesser inom svensk marinarkeologi. Men boken handlar också om ett skeppsvrak som hamnat en hårsmån utanför den stora vedertagna sjökrigshistoriska berättelsen: regalskeppet Riksäpplet.

Den 5 juni 1676 slet sig Riksäpplet från förtöjningarna vid Dalarö skans. Skrovet högg i en klippa och sjönk. Förlisningen kom att betraktas som både snöplig och pinsam och har i efterhand kommit att förtigas i historieböckerna. Klippan bär idag namnet Äpplet och vraket har kommit att bli en integrerad och självklar del av landskapet. Som en konsekvens av detta har vraket inte kunnat påträffas och dokumenteras under de sensationella former som gällt för andra välkända skeppsvrak trots att de förlist på mer otillgängliga platser.

I boken jämförs hanteringen av Riksäpplets vrak med de mer välkända regalskeppen Kronan och Svärdet, vilka gick under i strid fem dagar före Riksäpplets förlisning. Utifrån jämförelsen diskuterar Eriksson motiv och drivkrafter som legat till grund för studiet av vrak efter svenska örlogsfartyg från stormaktstiden. Riksäpplet har inte kunnat erövra någon framträdande roll i den romantiserande historieskrivning som lyfter fram nationens hjältar och deras stordåd. Boken första hälft syftar till att synliggöra de mekanismer och drivkrafter som ligger bakom att Riksäpplet prioriterats bort till förmån för undersökningar av andra vrak.

Bokens andra hälft ägnas åt att fokusera på ett nytt, mer renodlat arkeologiskt perspektiv på skeppet som materiell kultur. Erikssons utgångspunkt är ett till resurserna tämligen begränsat arkeologiskt fältarbete på vrakplatsen som ändå har genererat stora resultat. Han kombinerar detta med en genomgång av de föremål som genom åren har bärgats från vraket och som finns arkiverade i olika museimagasin och hos privata samlare. Tillsammans med bevarad skriftlig korrespondens kring skeppets byggande väcks nya insikter om 1600-talets skeppsbyggeri och hur detta kunde påverkas av den globala politiska maktbalansen över världshaven. Satt i en sådan kontext har Riksäpplet stor potential att visa hur stormaktens militärallianser materialiserades genom skeppens arkitektur.

Svärdet (1663-1676) - a ship built in the Dutch manner. During the first half of the  Seventeenth century the Swedish navy relied on Dutch master shipwrights who built ships in what was dubbed as ‘the Dutch manner’ Det holländska manéret. By the midcentury, the relations between the countries deteriorated to war. In this situation the Swedish Admirality sought for shipbuilding competence in England, which resulted in the introduction of the English manner – Det engelska manéret. In 2011 the remains of the ship Svärdet was discovered outside Öland. The ship was built 1660 to 1663 and sank during a battle in 1676. This paper presents the results from the initial survey of the wreck. Together with written sources and some preserved images of the ship it has been possible to get an impression of what the ship looked like. Focus of the paper is to present Svärdet as an example of one of the last ships built by the Dutch master shipwrights.

SUMMARY: The 84-gun ship Riksäpplet was one of the first ships in Sweden built under supervision of the newly recruited English master. In 1676, the ship came adrift, struck a rock and sank. In 2015 a minor field survey of the wreck was undertaken. An inventory of finds recovered from the wreck in various museum collections and in private hands has been compiled and the preserved correspondence from the construction of the ship has been re-examined. This material has provided new insights regarding the peculiarities and special architecture of Riksäpplet.

During the 16th century the naval ships were developed with increased size and a larger quantity of guns. When the Swedish ship Mars exploded and sank during action in 1564, she was one of the largest ships in the world. In 2011 the wreck was relocated outside the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea. Thanks to the favorable conditions about two thirds of the hull are preserved which includes the stern with the large stern castle. The site thus offers a unique opportunity to study a state of the art warship from this period. The site has been surveyed during three seasons. This paper is based on these initial surveys and aims to present the kind of insights regarding 16th century naval architecture that Mars has revealed so far.