13-May-16 – When the Draken Harald Hårfagre, the largest Viking ship built in modern times, arrives in Chicago in July after a 3,000-mile journey from Norway, it will be greeted by Chicago-area residents with a Viking ship of their own, an artifact of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Their ship made the same journey 123 years ago and showed that Vikings could have reached America long before Christopher Columbus.

The Viking was built in Sandefjord, Norway, between 1892 and 1893. It is a 78-foot-long, 17-foot-wide exact replica of the Gokstad, a Viking ship built by Vikings that was excavated in 1880. The Viking sailed to Chicago for the Columbian Exposition and was among its most popular attractions. On the day the ship appeared at the exposition, attendance increased by 60,000. In Evanston, 100,000 people came to see it.

At one time, the Viking was stored in Lincoln Park. It is currently on display in Geneva, Illinois, about 40 miles west of the Loop. (Left) Viking ship on display in Geneva’s Good Templar Park.

David Nordin, an expert on the replica in Geneva, says his organization, Friends of The Viking Ship, will be on the welcoming committee when the Draken Harald Hårfagre arrives at Navy Pier for the Tall Ships Festival, scheduled for July 27-31. “The arrival of the ship is something that has been vivid in our imagination, so it’s hard to anticipate what the real reaction is going to be when we see it,” says Nordin (right), but “clearly, it will be breathtaking.”

The Draken itself is a recreation of a Viking ship, based on archeology, Norse literature, and Norwegian boatbuilding tradition. It is 114 feet long, 26 feet wide, 78 feet tall, and has an 853 square foot sail.

Details of the arrival are still being worked out but there will be, at the very least, a welcoming reception on the evening of July 27. Along with Viking re-enactors, Friends of The Viking Ship will attend the reception, says Nordin, “to help add some color and excitement to the event.”

Nordin says his ship and the Draken Harald Hårfagre have much in common. One of the principal builders of the Draken, Gunnar Eldjarn, has studied both the Gokstad and the Viking and has consulted with Friends of the Viking Ship on how to stabilize their ship.

“Its timbers are obviously nowhere near as strong as they were when the ship was first built,” he says of the Viking, which has been out of the water since the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

A $52,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express in 2007 helped with the cost of adding supports to the ship. Earlier that year, Landmarks Illinois declared the Viking one of ten most endangered historic sites in Illinois.

(Left) Closer view of Viking ship on display in Geneva, Illinois.

“Our ship is no longer capable of doing what the Draken is going to do this summer,” says Nordin. “We’re all very, very proud of the Draken and we feel a special closeness to it because of the fact that our own ship made that same voyage in 1893.”

Nordin says the arrival of the Draken will be a significant moment for Chicago’s Scandinavian-American community and an impressive sight for everyone.

“Viking ships have been described as the most beautiful ships ever built. I suppose if you were on the end of a raiding party, it was something less than beautiful but nevertheless, it was the same way as a wasp might look when it’s coming through the air. It’s a very moving sight, regardless of the purpose of the visit. If it’s trade, you’re going to be awed by it. You’re going to awed by it even if it’s coming to attack.”

Draken now in Iceland

On Wednesday, the Draken Harald Hårfagre and its multi-national crew of 32 men and women were in Reykjavik, Iceland. They passed through rough sea on their way from the Shetland Islands of Scotland to Denmark’s Faroe Islands.

“It has been a rough night,” reported Captain Bjorn Ahlander (right) the next day. “The Norwegian Sea, in a storm, is not a healthy place.”

Ahlander wanted to get to the Faroes as soon as possible because another storm was approaching. From the Faroes, the Draken went northwest to Iceland, where they were greeted by Linköpings Studentsångare, a 53-member choir that sang for them traditional Norwegian songs.

From Iceland, the Draken will sail to Greenland, Canada, and United States, following the same route Vikings took a thousand years ago.