[Ansteorra] Viking ship lands in Ireland after nearly 1, 000 yrs

[Betsy Marshall]

Any word on which church they tried to enter?

-----Original Message-----
From: ansteorra-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:ansteorra-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Hillary
Greenslade
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 1:02 PM
To: ansteorra; MedievalTrivia
Subject: [Ansteorra] Viking ship lands in Ireland after nearly 1,000 yrs

Enjoy, Hillary
   
  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070814/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_ireland_vikings
   
  Viking ship lands in Ireland after nearly 1,000 yrs 
        By Jonathan Saul 
   

  A reconstructed Viking ship pulled into Dublin on Tuesday nearly 1,000
years after the original sank off Denmark's coast, with its crew retracing
the gruelling voyages made by marauding Nordic raiders to Ireland.
   
  The Sea Stallion's weather-beaten, 65-member team set sail from Roskilde
in Denmark on July 1 using oar and sail power, journeying over 1,000
nautical miles and aiming to address unanswered questions about Viking
ship-building and travel.
   
  Church bells rang out and a flotilla of sailing boats greeted the ship's
entry into Dublin's port on Tuesday.
   
  "You have come here on a voyage of discovery," said Dublin's Lord Mayor
Paddy Bourke as the vessel and its volunteer crew of men and women docked.
   
  Crafted from the wood of 300 oak trees, the 30-metre (100-foot) long,
4-metre wide Sea 
   
  Stallion is the world's largest reconstructed Viking vessel, its builders
say.
   
  The original ship was built in Dublin in 1042 but sank 30 years later in
Roskilde fjord, around 30 miles (50 km) south of Copenhagen, and lay there
until excavation began in 1962. The Sea Stallion was completed in 2004 after
work started in 2000.
   
  The Sea Stallion's voyage aimed to mirror the conditions faced by the
feared Nordic warriors who unleashed bloody raids on Ireland and England
1,000 years ago.
   
  The ship's Danish captain, Carsten Hvid, said the toughest moment was
coming into the Irish Sea, when high winds and 5-metre waves battered the
boat.
   
  "We put on our survival suits and prepared the life rafts," Hvid told
reporters after arriving in Dublin. But he added that no one was washed
overboard.
   
  The vessel was towed for a small part of the trip. Most of the voyage was
spent braving the elements on an open deck, with just a square metre of
living space for each crew member.
  Some of the assembled team spent stints on a support ship due to
hypothermia or minor injuries.
   
  "You were so tired, but you still had to work together. It has been a
great experience," said Hvid.
   
  In the old Viking sagas, it was not uncommon for captains to spend weeks,
months, or even an entire winter waiting for the weather to shift in their
favour.
   
  "There was cold, lashing rain on some days from the morning until the
following morning," the ship's project manager Prieben Rather Sorensen told
Reuters.
   
  "We did not have the time that the Vikings had as we had to be here
today," he added. "That was one of the challenges."
   
  Researchers will analyse film and computer data gathered during the
voyage, and the vessel will go on display this month at Dublin's National
Museum until next year, when a crew captained by Hvid will make the return
voyage home.
   
  Sorensen said he was already counting down the days to setting sail again.
"It is like a narcotic -- you can't live without it," he said.


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