Viking Ship - Geneva, IL
Posted by: adgorn
N 41° 53.622 W 088° 17.514
16T E 392829 N 4638780
A major attraction when it arrived at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Now located in Good Templar Park and beginning a restoration after a recent preservation grant and rechristened "The Raven."
Waymark Code: WM7G27
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 10/21/2009
Views: 11
The Viking Ship was built in Norway in 1892, an exact replica of the c. 880 Gokstad Viking ship, and undertook a perilous journey across the north Atlantic, making its way through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes to arrive in Chicago for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. It was a major attraction at the World’s Fair, partly because of its amazing journey and in part because it was a remarkable emblem of the sailing skills and technology of early Vikings. After spending seven decades in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, where it was largely ignored (except by me because I used to go see it from time to time as a kid), the Viking headed to West Chicago for an overhaul in 1992 and ended up at Good Templar Park two years later.
A number of websites feature this ship and project:
(
visit link)
(
visit link)
(
visit link)
(
visit link)
If you would like to help with the restoration:
(
visit link)
They report that:
"The Viking is approximately 78 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 6.5 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale. Clinker built, its planks are fastened together with thousands of iron rivets. At sea, the Viking averaged 10 knots and the hull was observed to flex with the waves."
From (
visit link)
"In 1925 to publicize and promote the Norse American Centennial in St. Paul a set of two stamps was issued, one of them bearing a picture based on the Gokstad replica, “Viking.” taken from a photograph. The engravers even included the American flag waving from the bow, as it was on the replica."