Viking (ship)
Viking
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Viking |
| Owner: | Friends of the Viking Ship |
| Operator: | Captain Magnus Andersen |
| Builder: | Christen Christensen |
| Launched: | Rødsverven shipyard at Sandefjord, Norway |
| Completed: | 1893 |
| Maiden voyage: | Bergen, Norway to Chicago, Illinois |
| Fate: | On exhibition at Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois |
| Status: | Viking ship replica |
| General characteristics | |
Viking is a Viking ship replica. It is an exact replica of the Gokstad ship recovered from Gokstadhaugen, a Viking Era burial mound near Sandefjord, Norway in 1880. The Viking was featured at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.
The ship was built at the Rødsverven shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway. The construction was undertaken by Norwegian shipyard and ship-owner Christen Christensen together with Ole Wegger (1859-1936) director of Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted. The ship was christened the Viking. The ship was sailed by Captain Magnus Andersen (1857-1938) and a crew of 11 from Bergen, Norway.
The Viking sailed to North America, via Newfoundland and New York, up the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal and into the Great Lakes to Chicago, where the World's Columbian Exposition was taking place in 1893 to commemorate the discovery of America by Columbus. Carter Harrison, Sr., Chicago's four-term mayor, boarded and took command for the last leg of the voyage, arriving at Jackson Park on Wednesday, July 12, 1893 to much fanfare.
After the 1893 Exposition, the Viking sailed down the Mississippi to New Orleans and wintered there. On her return to Chicago, the Viking was first located beside the Field Columbian Museum (now the Museum of Science and Industry) in Chicago, then placed in Lincoln Park under a fenced-in, wooden shelter. In 1920, the ship was restored by the Federation of Norwegian Women's Societies.
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Wikipedia