Don’t Blame the King

Here we have the famous Vasa, a 64-gun ship of the line commissioned (and largely designed) by Gustavus Adolphus, which capsized and sunk after sailing something less than a mile on its maiden voyage.  It was salvaged intact in 1961, and now is permanently moored in a house built for the purpose. You have to say that the Vasa was the largest monument to hubris until they launched the Titanic nearly 300 years later. All the swag and ornaments would have been brightly colored, but a few centuri...