Viking Ship - 2017 WoodenBoat Show

Front view (bow) of Viking ship "Drakon Harald".

When we went to set up for the WoodenBoat Show in Mystic, CT this year, we were surprised to see a 115 foot long 95 ton Viking ship tied up right behind our display site.  We were used to seeing whaling ships and all manner of wooden pleasure yachts, but nothing like this.  It looked a lot like an ancient ship I had seen in a museum in Norway, only bigger.  After talking to crew members and taking a deck tour, I got the story behind it.

The Drakon Harald Harfagre is a reproduction of a Viking warship based on archaeological evidence and Norse literature.   It was built in Norway and launched in 2012. It has 50 oars and one big sail.  In 2016 it made the crossing across the North Atlantic to America under sail.

From Norway they traveled to the Shetland Islands, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. Then on to Newfoundland, Canada, then up the St. Lawrence River and through all the Great Lakes as far as Duluth (Lake Superior) and Chicago (Lake Michigan), then back to the East Coast via the New York Canals and New York City.

You can see some very interesting video of the ship under way on Youtube and on their Facebook page. The ship is now on display at the Mystic Seaport and will be there until at least this fall (2017).  Plans after that are not finalized, but it will probably sail down the East Coast.  

Side view of Viking ship "Drakon Harald".

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Our rowboat "Heart Throb" with Viking warship as a backdrop.