Longship "Sea Stallion"

The Viking ship is a Danish - Irish effort.

Sea Stallion or Havhingsten ready to sail

When this 30-metre longship leaves the shallow shores of Roskilde and heads the thousand nautical miles towards the Irish shores, then the crew of 65 will be on board the world's largest reconstruction of a Viking ship.

In Danish the ship is named "Havhingsten fra Glendalough" joining Danish and Irish idioms. Havhingsten refers to the Nordic sagas where formidable warships were referred to as a "sea horse". Glendalough is a legendary area in Ireland, and one of the countries's famed tourist sites.

In Denmark all efforts have been put into preparing the crew for the journey and getting the ship ready for departure. The Irish have on the other hand, been busy preparing a warm welcome on August 14 when 10,000-15,000 spectators are expected to see the arrival of the Sea Stallion. Besides this, the Irish have organized the ship's stay over the winter at the National Museum of Ireland. The National Museum in Dublin opens an exhibition on the entire project on June 28, in collaboration with the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.

Warfare, transportation and communication
The Viking longship is a replica of the original Skuldelev 2 ship excavated from the bottom of Roskilde fjord in 1962. The ship wreck was found in Denmark, but the wood shows that it was built in Dublin in 1042. This explains the concept of making this test sail project a joint venture between the two nations with a € 3.6 million budget.

Building a Viking longship is an impressive task today, but 1,000 years ago it was a major feat. One of the old sagas by Olaf Tryggvason describes the many people involved in this process, from the master shipwright with the overall responsibility to a "prow Smith" responsible for laying the prows and keel, and to the "shipsmiths" who did the actual shipbuilding. But many others were involved to chop the wood, transport the timber, paint, tar, make the ropes, sew sails and so on. The Viking Ship Museum has spent about 44,000 man-hours reconstructing the hull of Skuldelev 2. Assuming that the necessary skilled labourers were on hand, a ship could be built in approximately seven months. Only noblemen or kings would have the means required to build, equip and man a longship, because to equip the ship you needed men, but also weapons such as swords, arrows, and axes, as well as provisions such as water, blankets, and tents.

The longships were used both for warfare, but also as a means of transport and communication. The sagas and trials with reconstructions have confirmed the accounts of Viking ships being seaworthy both when powered by oars and by sails. This narrow, flexible ship is designed for speed and will now once again be able to prove its seaworthiness and manoeuvrability on the open sea and in coastal waters.

Irish Naval Service
Besides a welcoming Irish committee and an exhibition in Dublin, the Irish Naval Service will be escorting the Sea Stallion up the last part of the Liffey and into Dublin harbour. Hopefully the naval service won't be needed and the replica of the Sea Stallion will prove its seaworthiness on the rough waters one thousand years after its original voyage.

Related information
The Sea Stallion, much more information
Interview with two men preparing for the expedition to Dublin, Eric and Ole
Interview with nurse on board the Sea Stallion