The Reconstruction of 'The Sea Stallion'

The story of 'The Sea Stallion' began opposite the small village of Skuldelev where the remains of five Viking ships were found. The largest of the finds was named 'Skuldelev 2', and was the holy grail of maritime archaeology. It was a full-size Viking warship, the largest ever found.

'Skuldelev 2' was 30 metres in length and would have carried a crew of over 60 men. She was the pinnacle of Viking technology and ship-building technique, designed to be fast and manoeuvrable and capable of transporting a large contingent of warriors very quickly to their target.

However, what made 'Skuldelev 2' all the more remarkable was where she was built, and the possible reasons she ended her days protecting nearby Roskilde. Scientific examination of the ship timbers using dendrochronology revealed that the ship was built around 1042 in Dublin. The Irish capital had been founded by Viking settlers and had become a flourishing trading centre, with a large Scandinavian population and close ties to the rest of the Viking world.

The ship sailed the seas around Britain for at least 25 years and it must have made the journey to Denmark at least once. By the 1070s the Viking empire was locked in civil war. To protect Roskilde, the royal capital at that time, against attack by sea, the Danes established a series of blockades in Roskilde Fjord. They took five boats, including the 'Skuldelev 2', and deliberately sunk them in the narrow approach to the harbour. Buried in the mud, the ships survived for nine centuries until their discovery and excavation.

All five of the Skuldelev wrecks are now housed in a purpose-built museum in Roskilde. 'Skuldelev 2' was perhaps the least well preserved and only around 25 per cent of the original timbers survived. Despite this there was enough of the hull for museum experts to estimate the size, shape and design of the ship, and the decision was made to build a full scale reconstruction of the ship.

This was a lengthy process. In 1998 the Viking Ship Museum constructed a 1:10 scale model of the ship, which alone took two years to build. The model demonstrated that the construction of a full scale ship was possible and work began in 2000.

More than 600,000 visitors observed the construction, which was undertaken with traditional Viking tools and building methods. The Vikings did not use saws, so every single piece of the ship was hand cut and then shaped and hewn using axes. The ship was built of green oak, designed to dry and shrink with age.

After four years of work at the museum's boatyard 'The Sea Stallion' was launched on 4 September 2004. Over 7,000 iron nails and rivets, 2,000 metres of rope and 300 oak trees were needed for its reconstruction. Sailing trials around Danish waters proved that the boat is sea-worthy, but one test remains. Can the ship repeat the voyage made by the original 'Skuldelv 2' and cross the North Sea back home to Dublin? This will be the final chapter in the long story of the Viking ship.

Published: 2007-06-27