3-Aug-16 – Its fate after Wisconsin uncertain, the Draken Harald Hårfagre departed Navy Pier on Monday and is now on its way north to Green Bay.

The Viking ship, the largest built in modern times, was scheduled to leave at 5 p.m.

When they arrived in Chicago on July 27, Captain Bjőrn Ahlander and his crew of 32 were welcomed by caretakers of another famous Viking ship, built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. It is a replica of the Gokstad, built by Vikings and excavated in 1880. The replica made the same journey as the Draken and showed, 123 years ago, that Vikings could have reached America long before Christopher Columbus. It is now on display in Geneva, Illinois, about 40 miles west of the Loop.

The Draken started its 3,000-mile journey from Haugesund, Norway, on April 26. It is itself a recreation of a Viking ship, built using archeology, Norse literature, and Norwegian boatbuilding tradition as guides.

At a private reception at Navy Pier on July 27, representatives of Friends of the Viking Ship read from the saga of Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson’s voyage to North America around the year 1000, and presented Captain Ahlander with a hand-made Norse knife in recognition of his Atlantic crossing.

(Left) David Nordin of Friends of the Viking Ship and Lena Hallgrimsdottir, wife of the Icelandic vice consul, after presenting readings on Leif Ericsson’s discovery of North America, in Old Icelandic and English languages, as described in the ancient Greelander’s Saga.

Green Bay might be the last stop for the Draken. The expedition’s fundraising partner, Sons of Norway, is trying to cover unexpected fees required by United States Coast Guard. As of Wednesday morning, the Minneapolis-based organization had raised more than $138,000 and was 32 percent to its goal of $430,000.

A public tour of the 1893 Viking ship is scheduled for August 20, 1-4 p.m., at Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois.