Day 65 POTD Viking Ship

A Viking Ship! Or at least a replica of one. But the really cool thing about this ship is that it sailed from Duluth, MN to Oslo, Norway. It was modeled after the Gokstad burial ship from 800 AD. This ship, the Hjemkomst, was constructed in a potato warehouse in Hawley, MN. It took 8 years to build is 76 feet long, 17 feet wide, and weighs 16 tons. It took 100 oak trees to build! The man who built it, Mr. Asp, completed the ship in 1980, but died before he could sail it. Four of his children, as part of a crew of 12, sailed and ROWED it across the Atlantic in the summer of 1982! The last photo is the opposite side of the viking ship than what is portrayed in the 3rd photo. The huge log in the center of the mast is an extremely straight, gigantic 72 foot long, oak utility pole that was ordered from Oregon in order to to build to support the mast of the ship.

The ship is in a specially constructed building, the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center, in Moorhead, MN, about 70 miles south of Grand Forks, ND.




This was shot in manual, custom white balance, RAW, using my 18-135 mm lens, ISO 400. I'll bet this would be a cool shot to take with a fish-eye lens. Then again, it just might make me dizzy!