Carl Gustaf Anders Franzén (23 July 1918 – 8 December 1993) was a Swedish marine technician and an amateur naval

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He is most famous for having located the 1628 wreck of the Swedish

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal. They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...

'' Vasa'' in 1956 and participated in her salvage 1959–1961. He also participated in the exploration for the wrecks of Swedish warships '' Kronan'', ''Riksäpplet'' and '' Resande Man'' as well as Gustav Vasa's flagship ''Lybska Svan''.

Biography

Franzén studied naval architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), but instead developed a strong interest for history and never graduated. He took employment with BP and later changed to the Swedish Naval Administration (which was a single-service forerunner to the Defence Materiel Administration, FMV) where he became an expert on oil and fuels. At the same time, Franzén was conducting amateur historical research in archives, where he was searching for information on old shipwrecks of the Swedish Navy. Early on, he had realised that in the

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuary ...

conditions in

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, wrecks of old wooden ships could survive without being attacked by shipworm. Around 1950 he had compiled a list of a dozen or so ships worth investigating further. From 1954, he focused his efforts on ''Vasa'' which he located in 1956 in Stockholm harbour. He combined his efforts with an experienced salvage diver Per Edvin Fälting (1911-1995). Franzén had strained relations to the

Maritime Museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navy, navies and the m ...

, which for a long time seemed to regard Franzén as an unwelcome competitor, while the Swedish navy and the city of Stockholm were a lot more interested. Franzén never worked for the Maritime Museum, but was given a position at his ''alma mater'' KTH, which also recognised him with an honorary doctorate in 1983, KTH's Great Prize in 1988, and a personal title as professor (approved by the Swedish government) in 1992. He was a founding member of the Sea Research Society and served on its Board of Advisors. In 1972 Franzén was awarded the Society's research/professional degree of Doctor of Marine Histories from the College of Marine Arts.

Personal life

Franzén was married to Helena Grönquist. He died in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

References

External links

Vasa Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franzen, Anders 1918 births 1993 deaths Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology Underwater archaeologists Burials at Galärvarvskyrkogården 20th-century Swedish archaeologists

Biography

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links