Video courtesy of Draken Harald Hårfagre.
A modern-day Viking longship will sail into Portland Harbor on Friday afternoon and spend four days docked at Fore Points Marina, 58 Fore St.
The public will be able to tour the deck of 115-foot-long Draken Harald Harfagre and explore the Draken Village – a photo and video exhibition illustrating Viking history, modern explorers and the adventures of the Draken.
The Viking ship Draken Harald Hårfagre motors into Rockland harbor on Sunday, followed by pleasure boats and kayakers.
Admission to the Draken Village is free, but an admission fee will be charged to adults, children and families who want to tour the single-masted vessel – promoted by its operators as the largest modern-built Viking ship in the world.
The program schedule for Portland is posted on the ship’s website (drakenhh.com). It says the ship will arrive in Portland Harbor around 3:30 p.m. Friday. The captain, Bjorn Ahlander, and his crew will come ashore to introduce the ship to onlookers. The ship will depart from Portland Harbor on Monday at 9 p.m.
In addition to deck tours, the crew plans to host a screening of the newly released Draken documentary, “Expedition America – a Modern Viking Adventure.” The venue for the movie has not been announced yet.
The Portland visit follows stopovers in Boothbay Harbor and Rockland. The Draken arrived Sunday evening in Rockland and is scheduled to leave Thursday. The visits to Maine ports are part of the Draken’s Expedition America – East Coast Tour 2018.
During its East Coast tour, which began July 9, the ship was scheduled to visit 16 harbors from South Carolina to Maine.
Crew members of the Viking ship Draken Harald Hårfagre give a cheer when they arrive in Rockland harbor on Sunday.
According to its website, the Draken was named after Harald Harfagre, the king who unified Norway into one kingdom. Construction of the ship began in March 2010 in the town of Haugesund in western Norway.
It measures 115 feet from stem to stern, is 26 feet wide and is equipped with a 79-foot-tall mast made from Douglas fir. The ship’s design was based on archaeological materials, Old Norse literature, visual representations of Viking ships and old sailing records.
The Draken underwent sea trials in 2012. In 2016, the ship successfully crossed the North Atlantic, helping to re-create one of the most epic, mythical explorations of all time – that of Viking explorer Leif Ericson, who discovered the New World.
The vessel has been docked at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
On its website, the operators of the Draken say, “The Vikings were accomplished navigators, artisans, traders and story tellers, but their greatest triumph was the ships they built.”
Tickets for the tours and movies, as well as more information about the Draken’s stopover in Portland can be found at drakenhh.com/portland.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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