The sea has many faces. Some are calm and welcoming, others ferocious and death-dealing. For centuries of human history, the sea has seen peaceful trade and war, life and death and failure. In Facing the Sea we meet Swedish experiences of the sea. We can read about smugglers from the Åland Islands, about British privateers seizing Swedish ships, and about Swedish naval officers defending the honor of the flag. We also learn what a disaster at sea or the salvage of a shipwreck can say about past and present societies, and why more and more Swedes choose burial at sea for their loved ones. We hear the voices of children who made the dangerous escape to Sweden in wartime by crossing the Baltic Sea. These are a few of the stories written by the eleven researchers who present a smorgasbord of recent work carried out at the Center for Maritime Studies (CEMAS) at Stockholm University. The contributors are historians, ethnologists, and maritime archaeologists associated with the center.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The architecture of the early modern sea routes into Stockholm
• 2. Maritime military archery
  • Bowmen on European warships, 1000–1600
• 3. The human factor
  • The ship Vasa and its people
• 4. Swedish vessels in the Prize Papers
  • Cases from the American Revolutionary War, 1776–1783
• 5. On the honour of the naval ensign
  • The Swedish navy and the symbolism of naval and merchant flags, c.1700–1950
• 6. Out of the water
  • Wrecks and salvage at the intersection of death, time past, and national glory
• 7. Swedish naval officers and the nation
  • The discourse of national identity in the magazine Vår Flotta, 1905–1920
• 8. Tommi the sea dog
  • Maritime collections and the material culture of Baltic boat children
• 9. How to break the rules just right
  • Åland smugglers, 1920–1950
• 10. Here, there and everywhere
  • Ash disposal at sea and the construction of a maritime memory landscape
• About the authors
• About the Centre for Maritime Studies