Sea Stallion celebrates 10th anniversary

On the 4th September 2004, Sea Stallion from Glendalough was named by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe and afterwards launched by the 60-strong crew with help from the Viking Ship Museum's volunteer boatguilds.

With its length of 30m, Sea Stallion is the world's largest Viking ship reconstruction. The original ship - Skuldelev 2 - stands on display in the Viking Ship Hall together with four other ships, which were excavated from Roskilde Fjord in 1962.

The ship became world famous when it undertook the spectacular test sailing from Roskilde, north around Scotland to the Irish capital, Dublin, in 2007 and back to Roskilde, going south around the English coast in 2008. Along the way, the ship stopped at many harbours and it was possible to follow the sailing via a satellite map on the Viking Ship Museum's website. It was a huge communications success - 1.5 million people followed the journey during the 14 weeks.

Sea Stallion is celebrating its 10th birthday far from Roskilde. The ship arrived to Berlin's harbour today, September 4th, to prepare for the rowing trip through the city on the 6th September and the visit of the Queen and President Gauck on the 9th September, in connection with the opening of the exhibition, 'Die Wikinger' and the Viking Ship Museum's exhibition, 'Ships of the Vikings' at Martin Gropius Bau.

In recognition of the day, we have collected some of the most beautiful photos from Sea Stallion's many voyages.

The photos are taken by Werner Karrasch.

» Click on the photos to enlarge them

Click on the photos to enlarge them