A better burden can no man bear
on the way than his mother wit;
'tis the refuge of the poor, and richer it seems
than wealth in a world untried.

Håvamål 10
Wisdom for Wanderers and Counsel to Guests

"A fifteenth I know, which Folk-stirrer sang,
the dwarf, at the gates of Dawn;
he sang strength to the gods, and skill to the elves,
and wisdom to Odin who utters."

Håvamål   159
The Song of Spells

BCVSP Viking Ship Unveiling Ceremony Pictures

"From the south the sun, by the side of the moon,
Heaved his right hand over heaven's rim;
The sun knew not what seat he had,
The stars knew not what stead they held,
The moon knew not what might she had."

Voluspå

… maybe so,
but this we know:
we have a Viking Ship!

---

Here's where you can see the pictures of the BC Viking Ship Project in action unveiling the Viking Ship at the Scandinavian Midsummer Fest on June 23, 2001. For the first time, you can see our Viking Ship with all the trimmings. Well, sans the rigging. (More to follow here over the summer, obviously…)

The annual Scandinavian Midsummer Fest took place June 22 to June 24, 2001 at the Scandinavian Community Cultural Centre in Burnaby, BC, Canada.

At 11:30 a.m. on Saturday june 23, the British Columbia Viking Ship Project held its Viking Ship Unveiling Ceremony with a suitable degree of pomp and circumstance.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

The key ceremony at each Midsummer Fest is the raising of the May Pole. Here is what the business end of a May Pole looks like…

We like to think we stole the show this year, though, with our Viking Ship!

© Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

---

Our Viking Ship was put on an axle with rubber wheels and rolled out of the boat shed Friday night.

Needless to say, the regular door was too small. So the chain saw was brought out and presto, the wall opened up. That boat shed sure looks empty and quiet.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

Our acting chairman, Tom Kottmeier, introduced the event and officiated the unveiling. He looked the part dressed in one of the costumes the team made in the spring.

We got the tarp off the ship right quick as nobody had really come to look at it (i.e., the tarp!). Best to get the Viking Ship out in the open.

The Viking Ship looked good with the honor guard of flag bearers flying the flags from all the Scandinavian countries, the province of BC and Canada.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

The next step was to mount our great Dragon heads. Several people contributed to the designs. Then they were carved for us out of yellow cedar by Moon, a local lady artist and carver. Unfortunately, she couldn't make it to the ceremony. But we'll have her know that THE DRAGON HEADS LOOK GREAT!

The trim adds a lot of flair to the bow, too, don't you agree?

Thanks, Moon!

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

"Here, use a real tool" said our armourer and handed the Digital Norseman a battle axe he'd made. I used it to drive in the last dowel on the stern Dragon head.

Using dowels like this to secure the Dragon heads is simple and easy. Removing the heads for safe keeping won't be a problem.

© Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

---

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police graced our honor guard. The RCMP reputation is that "The Mounties always get their man."

This time they got something different…

Not a bad trade if you ask us. But we're kind of biased, we know.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

---

---

Here are two close ups of our Dragon heads.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

"Oh, no: it's way too big for my bathtub!"

With the ship all dressed up, it was time to let everyone have a closer look. The kids loved it. Big and small.

© Copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

---

Some of the little bigger kids got to romp around. Here's the Littlest Viking caught in the foreship all decked out in his Troll T-shirt. Right on. Don't be a secret!

Some things have not changed in a 1000 years: A new Viking Ship excites the spirit of everyone, not just the kids. The kids' advantage is they just climb all over it doing what the rest of us secretly wished we could do. Troll shirts are optional…

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

Here is a shot of the interior looking towards the stern. That's quite a view, don't you think?

We're very excited, because we imagine ourselves on the thwarts, oars in hand rowing our Viking Ship around. Won't be long now.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

Our rudder is almost done. A couple of details remain like oiling and joining it to the external rudder post.

This picture illustrates an important and amusing historical fact. The rudder - or steering board, as it was called in the old days - goes on the right side of the Viking Ship. To avoid damage, ships with external rudders always docked with the left side to the dock. Makes sense, right?

This practice gave rise to the names starboard (or "steering board") for the right side of ships and port for the left.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

---

The team had mounted a shield guard to show off the spectacular shields they built.

To give everyone a bit of a flavour of how the ship will look in the water, they put the oars through the oar holes.

The team has done a truly wonderful job. The field work had not yet started at the time of last year's Midsummer Fest. But here we are, less than a year in the building and ready to drop in the water.

© Copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

Home | "Munin" Viking Ship | World of Vikings | Library | Links | About | Contact Me

© Copyright 1999-2009 The Digital Norseman