The first Virtual World Tour of the
Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg III 

INVITATION

Dear Museum-L Friends,

You are hereby invited to participate in The first Virtual World Tour of
the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg III 

During 1731 to 1813 the highly successful Swedish East India company was
located in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. We enjoyed interesting
cultural and trade relations with almost every other
country in the world.

During this period one extremely curious incident occurred, which must
have been the laughter of the century. In 1745 the East Indiaman
Gothenburg, on coming home after a more than two year long trip to
China, went on a rock just outside the harbour, only 900 meter from
land, and sank. 

In 1984 the wreck site was rediscovered by the diver Mr. Anders Wästfelt
and some friends. During 1985-1992 he organised one of the largest
maritime archaeological investigations ever undertaken in Sweden. Not
much was left, but the site was carefully charted. Measures of the
remnants of the ship was taken by Joakim Severinsson.

In 1993 it was decided that we should try to rebuild the ship, and redo
the last trip to China and back - and try to reach land, this time. The
project is now well under way. (Please visit us at
http://www.gothenborg3.se). 

We have built a shipyard, laid the keel and erected the first few pairs
of ribs. The ship will be well over 40 meters long, have a sails area of
1160 square meter. The cost is estimated to c/a 100 million
Swedish crowns (15 million USD).

The project is sponsored by about 250 local companies and thousands of
private benefactors.(See: http://www.gotheborg3.se/spons.htm) Most of
the work is done on a voluntary basis.

During the Gothenburg Boat Show at Svenska Mässan, Göteborg, the project
will be presented to the public for the third consecutive year. This
year our theme will be THE SAILING ROUTE.With the help of several
sponsors we will invite our visitors to make a virtual world tour on
twelve PC:s connected to Internet. 

The East Indiaman Gothenburg exhibition at the Scandinavian Boat Show
will start Friday, the 31st of January and continue to the 9th of
February 1997. As soon as possibly we will "broadcast" from our
exhibition hall with a webcamera - nights, days, during the building
etc. as long as we have a connection. After that, the camera will be
moved to the shipyard. 

For this exhibition, and for a permanent exhibition at our shipyard
"Terra Nova", we would like to establish Internet links to interesting
sites all over the world. Subjects of interest is TRADE, TOURISM,
EDUCATION and HISTORY. 

Please pass this message on to anybody that might have an interest in
sailing ships, maritime history, trade and international relations. Our
site is under construction and will remain so for years. Links, pictures
and documents are added daily. 

If you have suggestions on sites to be included, ideas, or just want to
say hello - please mail: [log in to unmask] 

Sincerely,
Jan-Erik Nilsson
IT and research, East Indiaman Götheborg III project
Sweden.