Friends of the Viking Ship

The Viking is a replica of the Gokstad ship. In 1893, under Captain Magnus Andersen, she sailed across the Atlantic (from Bergen, Norway to New York) and on to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (via the Erie Canal and Great Lakes).

Declared one of the 10 most endangered landmarks in Illinois, this important, irreplaceable piece of our nation's and region's history must be preserved.

"Ship belongs in a museum"
An editorial in the Kane County Chronicle

From The Book of the Fair
"The Viking ship, which divides the naval honors with the Spanish caravels, is constructed on the model of that discovered in the “Kingsmound” at Gokstad, near Sandefjord, Norway, by a sailor in 1880, and built by popular subscription for the World's Fair. Unlike the caravels, this vessel made the voyage to America on her own resources, and with a degree of comfort and speed that proved at least the possibility of Leif Ericsson's famous exploit. She is of oak, clinker built, caulked with cow's hair spun into a sort of cord, seventy five feet over all in length, sixty feet on the keel, a beam of fifteen and a half feet, and a draught of three and a half. At the prow rises high in the air a great carved dragon's head, and the tail of the beast appears at the stern, both richly gilded and the splendor of the vessel is further increased by the row of shields along each bulwark, in yellow and black, and, when in commission, by the red and white striped roofing. At the stern is a massive “high seat” for the chief or “Jarl,” covered with carved Runic inscriptions; there are no decks excepting two small ones, fore and aft, and the rigging consists of one mast that can be taken down, and one yard carrying a great square sail. The oars are sixteen on each side, each seventeen feet long, and the ship is steered by an oar on the starboard side, near the stern, after the old sea-king fashion."

Paul V. Gavin Library Digital History Collection
http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/