December 1984. Anders Wästfelt brings three diving friends to Hunnebådan in search of any remnants of the wreck of the original foundered East Indiaman Gotheborg. They are successful.

Jan-Erik Nilsson and Anders Wästfelt meet and can confirm 'beyond any doubt' that Anders and his friends have indeed found the 1745 year wreck site of the East Indiaman Gotheborg.

The Wästfelt excavation of the Gotheborg is commenced with its first diving season. Knowledge of the main proportions, the rig, the armaments, and other details of the ship is starting to be collected. Two first test trenches are dug. Large amounts of Chinese porcelain shards, remnants of broken tea crates, larger ship's construction parts are found.

The Friends of the East Indiaman Götheborg Organization is established in February to support the excavation project. Erik Wettergren becomes its first Chairman.

During the excavation the first complete and unbroken porcelain items are found. Different types of ammunition is also found together with personal belongings from the crew. Complete sides of tea crates are found.

The first complete bundle of intact porcelain plates are found which gives a first clue about what the the bundles listed in the cargo list could have looked like. Two large sections of the ships aft are lifted up.

The original location of the wreck is found and decided with certainty. The fact that the ship in its construction had been inspired by the British could be noticed by the fact that the ship had been equipped with an extra 'loose' keel, to improve its sailing ability.

One of the 6,056 bars of 'Tutanego' the ship had originally carried from China was found. The total weight could be decided to 21.6 kg which with a high degree of certainty could confirm that the Bill of Lading was correctly listing c. 130 tons.

Last season of actual excavations. The area close to the ship is investigated. The entire excavation area is covered with gravel to indicate for future investigations which area has been disturbed. Finds that could not be preserved are put back and filled over. Remaining excavation equipment was taken up and put in storage at New Elfsborg Fortress.

All lectures are now finalized with the words - and now we are going to build a replica of the East Indiaman Gotheborg, and sail with her to China and back, again. But this time, we are going to make it all the way back into the harbour, and not hit Hunnebådan and sink again, alternatively - and start the trade again and all become very rich. A whole series of international exhibitions are undertaken to promote the finds, the ship and the forthcoming continuation.

In 1992 the finds from the excavation are exhibited at the historical Museum of Shanghai. A 44 meter long banner down the facade is advertising the exhibition that eventually attracts almost 30,000 visitors. At this moment the exhibition is all but ready to open and we goes out to see the banner being hoisted. Anders Wästfelt, to the right.
Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, Shanghai, 1992.

The East Indiaman Gothenburg is exhibited in Shanghai, organized by Anders Wästfelt and the Swedish Consul General Bengt Johansson, in Shanghai. The exhibition is much published in Chinese media and is visited by large Swedish delegations, mostly from with Swedish companies already established in Shanghai.

In October 1992 the idea of building a replica is presented by Anders Wästfelt to the Friends of the Gotheborg Organization. The 'Friends' fully embraces the vision. Money is advanced towards the funding of a feasibility plan for the new project. An organizing committee is brought together to make the project a reality. Berit Wästfelt has the last say in who is going to be in or out. The original members came to be Anders Wästfelt - the sole individual initiator - as (Information and Marketing) and his wife, Berit Wästfelt for (Recruitment and Staff Administration). In the committee is also Erik Wettergren (Chairman) and later first CEO, Lena von Sydow (Economy). Jan-Erik Nilsson (Research and Documentation, later also IT), Erik Pipping (Historical Rigging), Eric Lincoln (Nautical Engineering) and Joakim Severinsson (Ship's Construction). Soon several more people are added to this first committee that eventually, together with Bo Alfredsson, second CEO after Erik Wettergren, becomes the Management Group who are also the only ones doing any real management of the project until the hull is well under way to be built, in mid 1997.

The old Eriksberg shipyard where we would build our own 'Terra Nova'.
It is the first winter of the project and the year is 1992 to 1993. Never, I though when I took this picture, will the East Indiaman Gotheborg feel further away than this.

In my minds eye, I could already see the wooden ribs of the hull sticking up against the snow gray sky down there, near the black row of containers, left there from a theater project. I also remember that I had no doubt at all about the we could do it. Personally I thought finding a place near water to build the shipyard would be the most difficult part of the whole thing. Now there were just a few practical details to sort out.
Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, 1992.

We in the early core organizing committee have started to have our meetings in an old house called Skateberg, at Lindholmen. We have just decided to have regular meetings to get things going and to report what each of us have done since the last time. This routine gives a framework to the project even if we lack pretty much everything. Mostly it is Anders who is still traveling around and lecture to groups of people and sponsors. Today Anders had interesting news. He had met with Bengt Tengroth, who at this time is heading Eriksbergs Utvecklings AB and from him managed to secure the rights to use a piece of land at the old Eriksbergs shipyard area. They plan to eventually use the land to build something, but in the meantime we are welcome to build our ship on it.

Terra Nova Shipyard, summer of 1993. Here we would build the shipyard. We were firmly determined that on this muddy piece of industrial wasteland we would build a ship that would sail to China. But, first we needed a shipyard. To the right, Anders Wästfelt describing the layout of the shipyard.
Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, 1993.

September 12 1993, public announcement towards an information's meeting at Hotel 11. Official start of the project.
Advertisement design: Jan-Erik Nilsson, Sept 1993.

November 5, 1993. The Management Group sets out to organize the East Indiaman Götheborg III Foundation to assume the overall responsibility for the project and to become the beneficiary of the donations that will be needed to fund the project. More than 40 friends and sponsors are invited to become Founding Fathers to resume the sole responsibility to oversee the activities of the foundation and to that end to have the right to select the members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation, at a yearly meeting.

December 28, 1993. The Management Group asks the Friends to donate the funds necessary for the Foundation to register the The Swedish East India Company AB as a fully owned company, to build the ship. The Friends donates 100 percent of the shares of the SOIC AB, to the Foundation.

All in all the Friends were able to donate close to 200,000 SEK during 1993 to get the project started, including the money needed to create the Swedish East India Company, SOIC AB.

In 1994 the members of the Friends Organization together with hundreds of voluntary workers and supporting companies starts the building of the new shipyard Terra Nova at Eriksberg.

The Chairman of the Chinese People's Congress, Mr. Li Ruihan inaugurate the Terra Nova shipyard area

General Hull and Rigging plan decided

At the meeting of the Management Group it was decided that the ship would have a hull of wood, about 75% oak and 25% pine. In order to provide enough strength, the frame-timbers would be made from laminated pine. The keel, stem, stern, beams, planks, trimmings and other framework details would be made from oak. The decks would be of pine. The sails and the standing and running rigging should be made with traditional materials, mainly hemp.

The hull would be constructed with as much historical accuracy as possible outboard as well as inboard above the free board deck. The hull would be divided into six waterproof sections for safety and in order to limit any possible damage.

Beneath the free board deck, no consideration of historical tradition would need to be taken, but the design and materials used would still be in keeping. The deck machinery would be as historically correct as possible. The ship was to be ballasted to obtain the historically correct waterline and carry 80 persons in crew, officers and trainees, and 12 passengers.

June 11, 1995 the official laying of the keel takes place in front of 3.000 spectators. The ceremony is performed by Sören Gyll, Volvo AB, Professor of History Jörgen Weibull and Alf Österström, Priest of the local congregation. Two coins are placed in each of the two joints of the 33 meters long oak keel. Three years later the Friends Organization, the Management Group and a huge numbers of volunteers, brilliant ships builders and carpenters can proudly show they are well on their way doing the impossible.

The keel of the ship consists of three separate parts made out of the best possible straight grown oaks. Here one of the joints - lask - is prepared. The keel have two of these joints. In each of these a coin was placed for good luck, each respectively representing the history, upon which our now and future, is built.

In 11 June 1995 the keel that was made of three large sections of oak was officially laid out and joined.
This was done in the open air, ahead of time, before the ships hall was erected. I am not sure we had the money for the ships hall at this moment.

Professor Jörgen Weibull fits one coin from 1745 in one of the two joints of the 33 meters long oak keel
for good luck, and to represent the history. Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, 1995.

In 1996 the shipyard hall is built. Wood beams from an old building elsewhere are found that will fit our purpose perfectly are found and a light tin roof is built across the beams. On each side of the old slip way there were eleven plinths cast in reinforced concrete to support large beams that are to form the roof over the ships hall. The beams came from an old building in Skandiahamnen and was donated to us by the Gothenburg Harbour AB. The covering of the hall with a light tin roof, we eventually needed to contract and pay for, but the rest was sponsored. It could not have become better or more fitting even if we would have had the building especially designed for our purpose.

The 4th of June 1996 The shipyard is visited by the Vice Premier of China, Mr. Zou Jiahua together with the Chinese Ambassador to China, Mr. Yang Guirong and the Swedish Ambassaor to China, Mr. Sven G. Linder. Later the same year the Major of Shanghai, Mr. Xu Kuangdi visits the Shipyard. The 8th of December 1996, the first rib is officially raised.

Major of Shanghai, Mr. Xu Kuangdi visits Terra Nova

Anders and I are extensively interviewed about the purpose, plans and progress of our project ahead of the then Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson's visit to China the on 2-4 November 1996.

We are now convinced that our project would soon, finally, receive some kind of public recognition and ideally some kind of financial support, but, no.

First East Indiaman Gotheborg IT fair occupying 1500 square meter area - the entire G Hall - at the annual Boats Show at Svenska Mässan. Nils Boijart, Jan-Erik Nilsson and Anders Wästfelt creates a 'Virtual World Tour' focused on the trade route and the cultural and commercial purpose of the project. The whole world participates via Internet and interactive webcams.

Minister of Trade Leif Pagrotski visit Shanghai and the Gotheborg project web pages at gotheborg3.se are a sensation. They are the first web pages in the world produced in the west with information directed to China - in Chinese. The pages are shown to 15-20 millions of viewers in Shanghai TV. Lars Åke Skager can at a meeting with Governor Göran Bengtsson in Gothenburg tell the Swedish Ambassadör Sven G Linder and a number of western Swedish managers that the Swedish delegation the next day received an astonishing reception by the Major of Shanghai, as he saw it, thanks to our web pages.

The 12th of November 1998 the 66th and last rib is raised. The ship's main inner structure is now finally complete. From now on the the organization changes focus onto the ship building only. The project initiators find themselves not needed or actually not wanted any more.

Since we were never hired or paid by anyone to do this, there are also no traditional ways of 'managing' us who in realty were running the entire project. We find that we have created a level of management higher then ourself, who now finally want to take over - SOIC AB and the Gotheborg III Foundation and thus as it turns out, in effect also given away the ship.

Since almost all sponsors are there to support the larger purpose of the project as originally visualized by us, the original initiators meaning basically Me, Anders and Berit Wästfelt and the larger Group of the Friends organization, the project now gets delayed for a several years since the project don't have any commercial financing or share holder capital to rely on, except us, the volunteers and the sponsors.

June 6, 2003 The East Indiaman Gotheborg III is launched in the presence of the Swedish Royal Family and the media attention is intense. One week later at June 13th the first mast was fitted, which were the 23 meter long foremast. Work continues at quay side.

The 18 July 2006 the Gotheborg III arrives to Bocca Tigris in the Pearl River delta after twenty days of sailing from the former Batavia, nowadays Jakarta more or less exactly 200 years after the last Swedish East Indiaman having left China. The reception was amazingly generous to the Swedish East Indiaman. After having lowered the masts to be able to continue the trip upwards the Pearl River under low hanging cables and bridges, the Gotheborg III continued up the river to its historical goal of the journey the city of Guangzhou (Canton). The first of its kind ever, to reach the actual city.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Swedish King Carl Gustaf VI disembarking the East Indiaman Gotheborg after homecoming to Gothenburg the 8 June 2007.