Viking longship to leave Mystic Seaport Museum Monday
Mystic — The Draken Harald Hårfagre, a 115-foot-long recreation of a Viking longship is scheduled to leave Mystic Seaport Museum Monday morning and cross through the Mystic drawbridge at its 10:40 a.m. opening.
The Draken, which sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Norway, has been at the museum since October of 2016. During its time there it has undergone maintenance and raised funds for the next leg of its voyage. It also was open for tours and last month participated in the museum’s Viking Days, which attracted large crowds.
It will head Monday to Boothbay Harbor, Maine which is the first of 14 planned stops in harbors along the East Coast, according to the ship’s website. It is slated to return to Mystic on Oct. 20.
The ship left its homeport of Haugesund, Norway, on April 26, 2016, on an “expedition to explore and relive one of the most mythological sea voyages — the first transatlantic crossing and the Viking discovery of the New World, more than 1,000 years ago,” according to the ship’s website.
It crossed the Atlantic Ocean with stops in Iceland and Greenland and then entered the St. Lawrence Seaway on its way to port visits along the Great Lakes.
It then traversed the New York State canal system to the Hudson River on to New York City, and then Mystic. It is powered by sails and oars, with a crew of 32.
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