Finnish technology students played an elaborate prank when the ship was being lifted. Just before the event, a group dived down to the ship and planted a statue of Paavo Nurmi, also known as "The Flying Finn", on the deck. When the ship was finally lifted, the legendary Finnish runner was one of the first things they discovered. This played well with the friendly rivalry between the neighbours, though the Swedes did not appreciate it as much.

https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa-jäynä

The FT article is an extremely superficial description of the events, which does a disservice to the depth and span of archaeological research and discovery which has taken place since the Vasa's discovery.

If anyone's visiting Stockholm, the Vasa museum is well worth a visit.

For those further afield, the museum's website offers a wealth of details about its conception, history, discovery, and our contemporary understanding of the wreck.

Vasa Museum: https://www.vasamuseet.se/en/explore/vasa-history/inquest

Agreed, not being a museum person at all I enjoyed a lot - also recommend fotografiska, insane collection!

The story of the Vasa is one of my favorites for lessons in building software or anything complicated. Though I'm not sure how much of the story is actually true, it's still a good fable if nothing else.

I feel like people use this "remember the Vasa" idea every 6 months.

Yes, we all remember the Vasa, and understand how it applies to any untested overengineered idea.

Lessons from Vasa regarding C++ standardisation [pdf]: https://www.stroustrup.com/how-to-write-a-proposal.pdf

And Scott Myers talk:

"Why C++ Sails When the Vasa Sank"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ltCgzYcpFUI

What percentage of folks in this thread saw the Vasa because of “Intro Days”?

It is an amazing museum. Highly encourage anyone passing through Stockholm to check it out.

I visited the museum two summers ago and it is really impressive. Even though I had caught some kind of cold and felt terrible, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. Highly recommend.

Vasa is a fair bit older, are there any other as well preserved from its time?

I would say it is about 4 times older and 1000 times less successful. A factor of 250 in favor of Fram.

I no longer have access, but this I remember being a good paper on the Vasa in the context of product design and project management https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=31396

I found this: https://www.scribd.com/doc/72476571/vasacasestudy