Modern-Day Vikings Sail to North America

A replica of a Viking ship, after battling storms and icebergs, sailed into this tiny town Friday to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Norsemen’s landing in North America.

The Gaia, a copy of a 9th-Century Viking vessel, arrived to celebrate the anniversary of Leif Ericsson’s arrival in North America 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

The single-masted longboat, built of Norwegian pine, set sail with its crew of 10 from Bergen, Norway, in May and spent the last week fighting high waves and dodging icebergs off Labrador.

L’Anse aux Meadows, in Newfoundland off Canada’s east coast, is the only authenticated Norse settlement in North America. It was discovered in 1960 by a Norwegian explorer who found remains of houses, evidence of iron-making and a Norse brooch.

Scientists say Vinland--the Norse word for grazing lands--extended as far south as the New England region in the United States.

Thorseth, who sailed a replica Viking cargo ship across the Atlantic in 1984, said many Viking ships have been reconstructed but that little is known about how they sailed.

“They are not really hard to sail if you know how, but it takes a lot more manpower,” he said.

His crew was made up of four Britons, two Icelanders and four Norwegians.

The Gaia, named after the Greek goddess of the Earth, will sail to other Canadian ports and then to New York City. Two other Viking ships will join it in Halifax, Canada, for the rest of the North American journey. Thorseth said they hope to sail on to Brazil for a U.N.-sponsored conference on the environment to be held there next year.