The Viking Ship Krampmacken

Summary

During 1980-85 the "Krampmacken" (a replica of a Viking ship, 8 m x 2 m, with six oars and a crew of about eleven) made an expedition from the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic to the Black Sea.

A report of the first stage of the journey, from the mouth of the river Wisla in Poland to Drohiczyn near the Russian border, was issued in 1983. Plans for continuing the journey (Bug-Pripyat- Dnieper) were thwarted when the Soviet authorities refused permission, thus obliging us to undertake the second stage of the journey partly along the Wisla-San rivers in Poland and partly over land, by hauling the ship (sometimes using horses) over the Carpathian mountains, through the Dukla Pass (for about 300 km) down into the Tisza (Czechoslovakia - Hungary - Yugoslavia). Thence we proceeded by way of the Danube through the Iron Gate almost to the source where we took " a short cut" over the Thracian Plateau (approximately 150 km of hauling) to the ancient Greek town of Dionysopolis (now Balchik) on the Black Sea coast (Yugoslavia - Rumania-Bulgaria). Following a difficult coastline we then continued southward to the Bosphorus (Turkey) and Istanbul - the ancient Miklagård of the Scandinavians.

Arduous and risky though the journey was, it was also very instructive. For this ship of the Baltic, copied from ancient finds and illustrations, was tested in all possible waters and situations which a Viking ship on an eastward voyage would have been likely to encounter.

The sails are of particular interest since they are based on the only reliable representations of Viking Age rig and sails we know of, namely those on the picture stones of Gotland: these imply a sail construction and a technique which is, in many respects, totally different from that used in the attempt to reconstruct from ethnological material.

Furthermore, the thousand-year-old method of hauling, which was used by our forefathers - for long distances even, and in difficult terrain - proved to be considerably easier than we had previously imagined. Also, the alternative route we were obliged to take indicates the possible existence of highways other than those hitherto known or presumed by us. This, in its turn, gives rise to interesting speculations about there having been boat traffic along these highways prior to the Viking Age and as far as the Bronze Age. All of which promises to further our understanding of the cultural links of our prehistory.

By professor Erik Nyhlén, the leader of the project.

Buy replicas of Historical ornaments,
from Viking age treasures
Viking rings etc.
Order online here.

Buy replicas of Historical ornaments,
from Viking age treasures
Viking rings etc.
Order online here.