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The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

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Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#21

Post by JoeAltmaier »

fifilura wrote: post #19
porbelm wrote: post #3

If this was interesting, and you're ever in eastern Norway, our oldest city Tønsberg have been building ships the old way for years now. They started with Saga Oseberg, a copy of the Oseberg ship, ten years ago (here's the launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tigGYikk6A ) and have continued making others. You don't see any chainsaws in the building of these though; logs are split with axes, wedges and sledges, an…

But why did they make the mast of douglas fir? Seems like a bit of an odd decision for a very fine ship since it is not native in Scandinavia.

They get very tall. As tall as a mast.

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#22

Post by fifilura »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #21
fifilura wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why did they make the mast of douglas fir? Seems like a bit of an odd decision for a very fine ship since it is not native in Scandinavia.

They get very tall. As tall as a mast.

Taller than the masts of the era it tries to replicate then I guess.

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#23

Post by tokai »

fifilura wrote: post #19
porbelm wrote: post #3

If this was interesting, and you're ever in eastern Norway, our oldest city Tønsberg have been building ships the old way for years now. They started with Saga Oseberg, a copy of the Oseberg ship, ten years ago (here's the launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tigGYikk6A ) and have continued making others. You don't see any chainsaws in the building of these though; logs are split with axes, wedges and sledges, an…

But why did they make the mast of douglas fir? Seems like a bit of an odd decision for a very fine ship since it is not native in Scandinavia.

Its a recreation not a reconstruction. If you are use modern tools you have already left the historical correct reconstruction behind. Better then to save money, time, etc.

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#24

Post by fifilura »

tokai wrote: post #23
fifilura wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why did they make the mast of douglas fir? Seems like a bit of an odd decision for a very fine ship since it is not native in Scandinavia.

Its a recreation not a reconstruction. If you are use modern tools you have already left the historical correct reconstruction behind. Better then to save money, time, etc.

It is ok.

I don't know if you have every been to Scandinavia, but I can assure we have lots of firs or pines to choose from.

So it is not meant to be snarky. It is a curious question.

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#25

Post by tokai »

fifilura wrote: post #24
tokai wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a recreation not a reconstruction. If you are use modern tools you have already left the historical correct reconstruction behind. Better then to save money, time, etc.

It is ok. I don't know if you have every been to Scandinavia, but I can assure we have lots of firs or pines to choose from. So it is not meant to be snarky. It is a curious question.

I'm sorry? I just answered your question. They use a non native tree because its cheap and have good capabilities. Using a native tree doesn't make much sense when the project isn't historical correct to high precision. Douglas figs is a very popular tree in modern Scandinavian forestry.

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#26

Post by NegativeLatency »

fifilura wrote: post #22
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They get very tall. As tall as a mast.

Taller than the masts of the era it tries to replicate then I guess.

Probably would’ve been ample old growth trees of that size to pick from back in the day, but a Doug fir is going to be cheaper and actually available

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#28

Post by fifilura »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #26
fifilura wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taller than the masts of the era it tries to replicate then I guess.

Probably would’ve been ample old growth trees of that size to pick from back in the day, but a Doug fir is going to be cheaper and actually available

From the looks of it this mast is 24m tall. I can see that douglas firs can become 120m, but that is hardly what you need. More like 35m maybe? That is not a very uncommon tree in Scandinavia. I am also guessing lots of landowners would be proud of gifting a tree for such a noble cause.

I think there are douglas firs in Scandinavia, but the question is if they were planted already 60-80 years ago to be able to take from here? Otherwise I guess it is a pretty long delivery from west coast US to Norway.

I guess my conclusion is that the douglas fir has better properties (weight/strength) than a scandinavian spruce or pine.

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#29

Post by SaintGhurka »

Gwypaas wrote: post #8

Amazing ship, been laid up in Mystic Seaport for the last couple of years after crossing from Norway to the US through Iceland and Greenland. From what I have understood talking with people involved the billionaire builder got bored with the project after it completed the crossing. Here's a video of them sailing out in heavy conditions from Greenland across the labrador sea. Their Youtube channel has more videos of t…

I don't understand how they don't get immediately swamped by the first big wave that hits them from the side.

Or if not one big wave, wouldn't they eventually fill with water from the spray that washes over them every time the bow crashes down?

Re: The largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times

#30

Post by jjtheblunt »

porbelm wrote: post #18
dale_glass wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the video it looks absolutely terrifying. Those waves seem to constantly rise above the side of the ship, and there's large chunks of ice all around, and that's very far from the worst weather they could have encountered.

Yeah, luckily those longships are extremely seaworthy. The width and lack of height make them stable, and they bend and flex with the ocean. There's a reason Eiriksson managed to cross the Atlantic and reach Newfoundland at the time, before anyone else (that we know of)

to your point, super interesting :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarni_Herj%C3%B3lfsson

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