Henrik Hybertsson

Who was Henrik Hybertsson?

Henrik Hybertsson was a Dutchborn master shipbuilder working in the Stockholm navy yard in the early 17th century. He is mostly known for being the designer and constructor of the warship Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 and is now on display at the Vasa Museum.

Henrik came from the town of Rijswijk, near Den Haag in South Holland, and for a time in the 1590s was listed as a merchant in Amsterdam, before moving to Sweden at the beginning of the 17th century. Henrik was hired by the Swedish King Karl IX, at a time when the Royal Swedish Navy was expanding rapidly. He worked in Stockholm between 1603-1605 and again between 1611-1627. In between he was stationed at various shipyards in the country. After his return to Stockholm in 1611, he developed an association with the entrepreneur Anton Monier, who had leased the Crown's navy yard in 1620 under a new type of procurement contract, in which private businessmen took on the government's former role in producing war material. In 1621, Monier took Master Henrik into partnership.