The 17th century marks the heyday of the Swedish 'four estates society'. The harmony of the four estates was not to be questioned. People's statuses weredisplayed in a very visible way, by means of clothing, housing and ways of living. The practices of social difference-making was strong. A naval ship was a kind offloating representation of power and the exterior displayed ideological messages.But the ideas of the 'four estates society' were also visible inside the ship. This article discusses the division of space onboard the warship Vasa (1628), and raises the question whether Vasa was representative of a warship in Europe inthe 17th century or not. By using historical sources and archaeological material, as well as paintings and ship models, we can get a better understanding of the interior of early-modern warships. Warships in the 17th century were extremely crowded. Even the officers lived in crowded, shared small spaces. Vasa's overall spatial arrangement was very similar to English, and especially Dutch ships from the 1600s. But there were differences. On a Swedish ship in the first half of the 17th century, the important thing was not to have your own cabin or space. What was thought to be important was that people of the same social level shared space according to their status.