Drakkar Viking Ship 24"
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Item # Viking-24 Drakkar Viking Ship 24" |
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The "Viking" was built at
Framnes Shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway in 1892. It
was copied after the ancient Viking ship "Gokstad".
Excavated in 1880, the "Gokstad" had been called the
most beautiful ship ever built. The "Viking" is
approximately 78 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 7 feet
high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale.
Clinker built with planking hand split from green
logs, the "Viking" made 11 knots and the hull was
observed to flex with the waves. The "Viking" became one of the greatest attractions at the World's Columbian Exposition. Since the close of the Exposition the "Viking" was held first by the Federation of Norwegian Women's Societies and later by the Chicago Park District. The ship was first housed beside the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago, then restored in 1920 and placed in Lincoln Park under a fenced-in, wooden shelter. Although legal trustee of the Viking ship, the Chicago Park District set aside no funds for maintenance of the boat or its wooden shelter. For many decades the Norwegian-American community provided regular maintenance to the ship by cleaning it annually. But as the years passed, the wooden shelter, began to fail, and the "Viking" began to suffer from weather damage. In 1978 the Scandinavian-American community rallied by forming an organization, The Viking Ship Restoration Committee, whose goal was to restore the Viking and find suitable permanent housing. |
| Drakkar Viking Ship 24" | $99.95 |
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