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Draken Harald Hårfagre

Draken Harald Hårfagre at New York.jpg
Draken Harald Hårfagre in New York City
History
 NorwayNorway
Name: Draken Harald Hårfagre (English: Dragon Harald Fairhair)
Namesake: Harald Hårfagre (Harald I of Norway)
Owner: Sigurd Aase
Builder: Viking Kings AS
Laid down: March 2010
Launched: 5 June 2012
General characteristics
Type: Viking longship (Skeid)
Tons burthen: 95.5 metric tons
Length: 35 m (115 ft)
Beam: 8 m (26 ft)
Draught: 2.5 m (8.2 ft)
Propulsion:
  • 25 pairs of oars
  • Sail (300 m2 (3,200 square feet)
Complement:
  • Minimum of 100 under oars
  • Minimum of 12–14 under sail

Draken Harald Hårfagre (English: Dragon Harald Fairhair) is a large Viking longship built in the municipality of Haugesund, Norway. Draken Harald Hårfagre brings the seafaring qualities of a warship from the old Norse sagas to life. It is a ship that combines ocean-crossing sailing capabilities with a warship's use of oars.

Building began in March 2010. Construction was funded by Sigurd Aase, described as a "Norwegian oil and gas tycoon."

The longship is a '25-sesse' (25 pairs of oars) – in other words, it is equipped with 50 oars. Each oar is powered by two men. Under sail it requires a crew of 30 people.

Draken Harald Hårfagre is 35 metres (115 ft) long with a beam of approximately 8 metres (26 ft) and a displacement of about 95 metric tons. The longship is constructed in oak and carries 260 square metres (2,800 sq ft) of sail.

Draken Harald Hårfagre is the largest Viking ship built in modern times. In the Viking age, an attack carried out from the ocean would be in the form of a "Strandhogg", i.e. hit and run tactics, being highly mobile. By the High Middle Ages the ships changed shapes to become larger and heavier with platforms in the front and back. This was done for the sake of sea battles, that made it possible to board ships that lay alongside each other. In the 13th century, this tactic was well known and widely used in Scandinavia. The law of the land in those days (Norwegian: Gulatingsloven) included standards that required Norwegian provinces (fylker) to cooperate in supplying 116 such warships of 50 oars size (Norwegian: 25-sesser) (25 pairs of oars) for duty in the Norwegian fleet of warships.

Copies of Viking ships are usually based on interpretations of archaeological material. But in the construction of Draken Harald Hårfagre an alternative method has been used. It was decided to begin with the living tradition of Norwegian boatbuilding, with roots that can be traced directly to the Viking Age. The foremost Norwegian traditional boat builders are involved in the project. Their knowledge of traditional boatbuilding is supplemented with the results of investigations carried out on archaeological material, source material in Norse literature, literature from the same period from foreign sources, iconographic material, etc. The goal of the project is to recreate in this manner an oceangoing warship of 50 oars taken right out of the Norse Sagas.


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