Here comes the Vikings!

During lunch yesterday, Leah from Northwest Sails gave a presentation "Sailing a Danish Viking Ship in the Baltic Sea". This past summer she was the only American to be part of the crew sailing (and rowing) the Sea Stallion from Glendalough. The Sea Stallion is part of the collection of reconstructed Viking Ships of the Danish Viking Museum (http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/). Leah spent about three weeks and 400 nm traveling around Denmark, Germany and Sweden. To say that this was an adventure would be an understatement. Sixty crew plus the Captain and Mates in an open boat with only two buckets to serve as toilets is probably a little more than an adventure. No wonder the Vikings pillaged when they reached their destination! Below is some detailed information on the vessel.

Sea Stallion from Glendalough

The longship, Sea Stallion from Glendalough (in Danish Havhingsten fra Glendalough), is the largest vessel the Viking Ship Museum has build so far. With a length of 30 m, it is indeed in a special class among Viking ships. The Norwegian Viking finds, the Oseberg and Gokstad ships, are "only" 22 m and 24 m long respectively. The famous great-ship of the Norwegian king, Olav Trygvasson, "Ormen hin lange" (Long Serpent) was, according to Snorre's saga, all of 43 m long!

As can be seen in the museum hall where the original longskip is exhibited, only about 25% has been preserved. That it is possible to build a satisfactory reconstruction is solely due to the fact that the 1800 fragments that were found included essential parts of the bottom, the whole keelson and the stern - and the ship's side adjacent to the stern, right up to the gunwale. Hence, the most vital measuring points still exist.

High-quality materials were used in building the original ship, not only for the sake of appearance, but also to enhance the strength of the construction. It thus became necessary to select material for the reconstruction which as far as type and properties are concerned, came as close as possible to the original.

The Vikings built their ships of fresh wood. The long planking for the ship's sides, the strakes, were cleaved from long, straight oak trunks, while the inner and more curved timbers were made from parts of the oak tree crown that had already grown into more or less the correct form. The total volume of wood required for the reconstruction is 150 stacked cubic metres. Then there are 400 kg of pure iron, hemp for the 3000 m of rope, and a great deal of flax for the sail, all 112 square metres of it!

Judging by the most recent wood and tree-ring analyses, the original ship was built in accordance with Scandinavian shipbuilding traditions in Dublin around the year 1042. The ship is thus linked with the Scandinavian expansion westwards and the history of the Vikings in Ireland. Without doubt the ship was also on the scene of many dramatic events that occurred at the end of the Viking Age, after William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066.

The reconstructed longship was launched in 2004. Hereafter the initial sea trials and crew training took place in 2005 and 2006. Further experiments was conducted to establish sailing characteristics and seaworthiness on different types of seas and weather conditions.