Viking 1893
The replica Viking longship Draken Harald Hårfagre successfully crossed the Atlantic and made it to the the Pepsi Tall Ships Chicago 2016 festival, which took place this weekend, despite challenges associated with paying Great lakes pilotage fees. Building a replica longship, crossing the Atlantic and traveling inland to Chicago is a considerable achievement in its own right. I was surprised to learn that this is not the first time that the feat was accomplished. A Viking longship crossed the Atlantic and traveled to Chicago 123 years ago. Remarkably the ship, named Viking, survives to this day.
In 1893, a copy of the Gokstad ship was built and sailed under the command of Captain Magnus Andersen and a crew of 11 from Bergen, Norway to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Gokstad ship was a 9th-century Viking ship discovered in 1880 in a burial mound at Gokstad in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. The new ship, named simply Viking,was built at the Rødsverven shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway as a plank by plank copy of the Gokstad ship. The Viking was 78 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 6.5 feet and was sailed to North America, via Newfoundland and New York, up the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal and into the Great Lakes to Chicago.
The arrival of the Viking longship attracted considerable attention at the fair intended to celebrate Columbus’ “discovery” of America. While the sagas told of Lief Ericsson’s discovery of the New World, many doubted that the Norsemen possessed the capacity to make long ocean voyages. The arrival of the longship Viking in Chicago, put these doubts to rest. At the fair, 50,000 visitors waited at the dock when the Viking arrived. Overall, attendance at the Columbian Exposition on the day of her arrival roughly doubled to 135,000.
After the Columbian Exposition, the Viking sailed down the Mississippi to New Orleans, where it spent a winter before returning to Chicago where it was donated to the Field Museum. In the intervening century the ship has been moved to various locations in and around Chicago. It was restored in 1920 but then was largely neglected. The ship is currently in Geneva, Illinois, outside of Chicago under the ownership and care of the non-profit Friends of the Viking Ship. The organization is attempting to find a suitable permanent home for the 123 year old ship. They are hoping that the arrival of the Draken Harald Hårfagre will raise awareness of their efforts to find the Viking a climate-controlled home in a Chicago museum.
“We’ve never felt better about the future of this ship,” said Dave Nordin, a Naperville resident and co-founder of The Friends of the Viking Ship organization. “I don’t know if anyone has felt better about the future of this ship since 1893. Never since the World’s Fair have as many people known of the ship and seen it. It stands as a tribute to human courage. That’s its greatest meaning.”
Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.
And then there was the LEIF ERICKSON which made it all the way to Duluth in 1926, perhaps replicating the Viking discovery of Minnesota. http://www.theduluthexperience.com/the-origin-of-duluth-leif-erikson-park/
Interesting. Thanks.
And there is the Islendingur that was built in Iceland and sailed to New York City in 2000 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the exploration trips my ancestors took from Iceland and Greenland to North America.
While there may have been some Norwegians onboard the leaders of these expeditions were Icelanders.